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The River Variations

John Watson never knew that he wanted a ‘no toast in the mornings’ normal until he realized what an honor it is to be destroyed by Sherlock Holmes.

I loved this. Paradox Series!Sherlock is my favorite kind of Sherlock, and this fic reminded me of that. Moreover, it's based on "The Three Garridebs", one of my favorite ACD Canon stories. This fic was really lovely. Its portrayal of the Johnlock version of domestic was sweet and strange (as it should be). John's perspective on his life felt so accurate to me. His past as a soldier, his experience with romance and sex, his love of adrenaline, all of it was mentioned and used to build up a complex characterization of John that felt real. The dynamic between John and Sherlock was perfect. There was that banter and snark that kept the story fun and even humorous. But more importantly, when things got serious, there was that crucial protectiveness. The love that John and Sherlock have for each other was so evident in this fic, and it was present in their actions, in what they said, and maybe most importantly, in what they didn't say. This fic had some beautiful metaphors, but really, it was a great example of lovely storytelling. My only complaint would be that I felt like John maybe came to his "I love Sherlock" revelation a bit quickly, but that was a very minor drawback. Overall, this fic absolutely reminded me of my favorite fanfic (The Paradox Series), but in its own original way. The author tagged this fic as "soulmates" even though it doesn't fit under the Magical Realism Soulmates AU definition. Even so, I'd say that tag is well deserved; John and Sherlock feel intimately connected in this fic.

Word Count: 11, 619

Rating: A/A+

The River Variations by withoutawish

#10k #a #the river variations #withoutawish #casefic #pg #mine #protectivesherlock #protectivejohn #hurtcomfort #romance #acdcanon #sleep

writing meme!

John tries his best not to smile fondly at the emotional Molotov cocktail sitting in front of him, but he's not entirely certain that he's succeeding. “You’re…three days without sleep, about?”

“Obviously dying for nearly two minutes did nothing to sharpen your deductive prowess. Five days, you've been lying here comatose for five egregiously long days. Inexcusable. I have cases, you know. My mobile has been ringing non-stop,”

Five days without sleep can somewhat forgive the macabre delirium, John supposes.

From your "The River Variations"

AHHHH I fail at editing submissions, so I'm just going to do it this way????

First of all Vicki, thank you SO SO SO much for submitting this to me. I just cannot even with you most times?? Your kindness and encouragement always continue to surprise me in the most delightful of ways possible and let me just say this: you are by far one of the loveliest people that I have the privilege to I know within the fandom and I s2g this absolutely made my month :)

Okay, so, uh here's what I'm supposed to include? "What I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what’s going on in the character’s heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you’d expect to find on a DVD commentary track."

ALRIGHT:

So, the one thing that sticks out the most here was that I was SO excited to the use 'emotional Molotov cocktail' metaphor? I had used it in a piece that had been cut, and then when I was editing this (at the very last minute, might I add,) I went back and was so happy to find a good place to stick it in. I think that it works for my headcanon of Sherlock being so very quiet and compact on the emotional front until he kind of explodes with feelings; therefore, with this metaphor, I wanted to insinuate that Sherlock has the capacity to be incredibly devastating to the people around him who he loves dearly (ie, nearly beating John to death in trying to keep him alive, aka what happens in this fic.) It's probably one of my favorite headcanons about him--that he has this inherently destructive and darker relationship with emotions in general. Which is why I like angst so much, thb eheheh.

So John here is like, very much punch-drunk in love with a surly and unhinged Sherlock in the hospital; John is doped up on drugs and I think touching Sherlock's stitches still at this point which I just...guh. Love. And the comment of "you're about three days without sleep, about" is to denote the familiarity of John with Sherlock in similar circumstances over their time together. John's first instinct upon waking isn't to focus on living or his own broken body or to be angry: it's to figure out how he can heal a very obviously mentally fractured Sherlock. And Sherlock's response is pretty harsh, isn't it, considering the circumstances? We've already established that Sherlock is equally, if not more so, in love with John--wildly enough to nearly kill him in trying to save him. Hence, his response here "You're wrong blah blah blah and I could have been busy" is rather multifaceted. It must be noted that A) Sherlock is blatantly lying--he hasn't been busy AT ALL. He's spent the last five days attached to John's bedside all the while obsessing over how this is all his fault. B) Sherlock instinctively goes to his usual actions to correct John about being wrong because he's terrified that if he were to actually say the truth at this point, he'd entirely crumble into just...pieces. He's still very much trying to figure out how to communicate his feelings and what it all means. Hence, here, still uncertain as to how to properly achieve the former, Sherlock's response is entirely self preservation, nothing more. Later in their relationship, Sherlock will talk to John about this conversation and tell him what he was really thinking. (Hm, now I want to continue this verse because they're so fucking nuts in it, both of them...) Which leads me to C, the most important part: John already knows all of this. Hence, he is just kind of bemused at Sherlock's reaction here. He knows all of the not good parts--the lies, why exactly Sherlock is being such a dick right now--and it doesn't change anything to him. At all. Ever. This is the man who he loves. Which is why I love them so, so much.

Puns? Funny parts? Ummmm, what I can tell you overall about the story is this: I wrote this fic in literally two nights? It was actually set up as a rather traditional telling of the Three Garridebs (which is by far my favorite canon fic, hurt comfort awwww yisssss) uNTIL TWO HOURS BEFORE THE FINAL LATE SUBMISSION DEADLINE? I was having a conversation with one of my friends from high school via FB, and she was like, "Hey guess what video I found the other day? CORPNUCOPIA" Which was a video that we had made in our senior year AP Econ class for a project about corporations and like, our corporation was called Corpnucopia and we had a...cornucopia of market secrets or something? It was high school, and obviously, we were extremely witty (and odd. Mostly just odd.) But it was through that conversation that I realized that a great way to update the story would be to make the Garridebs companies (as opposed to actual people) and have them do a corporate merger. So I rewrote the majority of the fic two hours before it was due. Great idea, Beth, great idea. *facepalm*

Overall though, this piece was kind of my first transition piece into writing my version of 'Sherlock and John' and the one which connected me to someone within the fandom who I admire very, VERY much for the first time. And this is um, me being very real here, so maybe don't read on if you struggle with things? With all that has gone on in the past year and all that I've lost (um a lot. A lot a lot), that connection has, quite honestly been, at times, the sole thing that has kept me alive at my absolute lowest. And other connections that I've made in fandom as well hold equal importance to me---connections which I wouldn't have had without continuing to write after WICFY, which was the first thing that I've written ever in my entire life. Hence, this piece means absolute loads to me as it was my transition from a 'one hit' kind of person (wait, not to insinuate that WICFY was a 'hit' or anything, but as far as like...literally the one thing which I was going to write) to someone who is along the journey of an 'author' in my mind? I'm always delighted to hear that people enjoyed it, as I didn't have a lot of time to get too 'thinky' about it and really wrote it based on gut reactions. Gosh, I wish I could always get out of my head and write fic this way--someone give me a deadline, bwahhhh.

So there you have it! :D Thanks again Vicki for your loveliness and I hope that wow, this isn't overwhelmingly more than you asked for ehehehe!

#vikulee #writing things #writing meme #the river variations #bbc sherlock #IDK MAN #long winded responses in which Beth pretends shes an actual author bwaaah #submission