[ SECRET POST #2437 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2437 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 024 secrets from Secret Submission Post #348.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 1 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

07. http://i.imgur.com/AItNk7y.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

Um. Most people don't react well when their friends pretend to commit suicide. Especially not ex-soldiers who are probably still suffering from PTSD, and who probably think they contributed to said suicide.

So. Do you want book!Watson, or do you want human!Watson?

[(Anonymous)]

Not react well, sure. But for the very first reaction to be "RAR! JOHN SMASH!!!" is so far from real I wouldn't call it human.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, that reaction doesn't seem very believable to me. That said, if we're talking Sherlock, there are plenty of things that don't seem very realistic to me about their relationship, so I wouldn't be all that surprised if the show (and fics) went there.

[(Anonymous)]

Book Watson was perfectly human, tyvm. Victorian men didn't make a casual habit of fainting.

Why is anger and aggression "human" and shock, relief and joy 'inhuman'?

[(Anonymous)]

Good point. I just don't see what people have against stunned/relieved/a little angry Watson.

On the other end of the spectrum though, it reminds of a thread that was going on, oh, probably a year ago...I don't remember if it was directly Sherlock fic related or it was just general, but someone asked about what the response would be if someone you thought were dead showed up all of a sudden.

There were so. many. quips and puns and unrealistic answers that I just pretty much facepalmed the whole thread. Yes, your One True Friend/Love/Whatever, who you thought was dead, shows up and you're going to cock your eyebrow and say "hey...aren't you supposed to be dead?" Please.

What would I do...

[(Anonymous)]

I think I would probably cry - or awkward laugh - or laugh and cry at the same time, that uncomfortable in between. Maybe some yelling of "what the fuck" and probably some pacing and I assume I would hug them for a long time.


*granted I can only guess about this as people don't conventionally come back from the dead...

[elaminator]

Haha, I think most people wish they would react in that way (if that highly unlikely situation were to occur), but most people wouldn't, no. Then again some people DO deal with stress/anger/whatever by injecting humor into everything, so they might joke about it then have a meltdown when no one's watching.

I have no idea how I would react in that situation. There would be no physical violence, and yea there would be an overwhelming relief, but of course I'd be upset too.

[(Anonymous)]

Initially, I'd probably lock down and go unresponsive, because that's my proven response to major shocks. I'm not sure what way it would go afterwards, but I suspect my main emotion would be confusion/shock rather than anger. Once Holmes explained, I'd have accepted the necessity, so not much anger, but the whole dead-not-dead would just knock me for a loop for a while. I'd have trouble accepting the reality of it.

I've always thought that Watson's relatively quick jump to relief and joy (after the fainting fit where his brain just shut down for a bit while trying to grasp what happened) was because he'd always nursed a hope that there was something he wasn't seeing, some hope that Holmes wasn't dead. Holmes was always fairly tricky, and there was no body. Which, in hindsight, makes those three years in between significantly more painful, if you've ever seen people with missing friends/relatives that they don't know for sure are dead, but it would explain why he could jump so quickly so happiness. He'd been expecting/hoping for the return for some time.

[(Anonymous)]

On the one hand, Canon!Watson doesn't seem as upset at the deception as some might argue he should be so while I don't think punching Holmes or whatever would be healthier, being angry about being lied to - at least a little bit - isn't unreasonable.

On the other hand, Canon!Holmes' "death" could be considered less traumatic for Watson than it was for BBC!John, since Watson didn't have to watch it happen or see a body afterward. Also, there was no campaign to paint Holmes as a fake and he never tried to make Watson believe he was one. Sherlock has really piled on the suffering for John - and BBC!Sherlock is more of a jerk than Holmes is in canon, anyway - so I think John might be warranted a more extreme reaction than "My dear chap, I'm overjoyed to see you."

Also, one could argue that the relationship between John and Sherlock was already a bit screwed up and unhealthy compared to the canon version even before Richenbach. Physical violence won't fix that, but it might be more in character? Not healthy, just unsurprising.

So... I guess I agree with you that it's not healthy, but don't object to it happening.

[elaminator]

Pretty much this. Not saying a punch is a good reaction, but I can easily see it happening and don't feel it's OOC for this version of Watson. (And their relationship really IS screwed up, and the 'reunion' should fit that in some way.)

[(Anonymous)]

Thinking that his relationship with Sherlock is Very Fucked Up is what makes me ship it, to be honest.

[(Anonymous)]

+1

[(Anonymous)]

I've never 100% bought Watson's reaction in The Empty House, though. Or at least, I get the feeling Dr. Watson is, uh, shading things a little bit, being a respectable English gentleman. Like he writes it as he has a moment of shock and then it's back to business? I feel like it maybe went beyond that.

Caveat: It's been a while since I read The Empty House.

Secret 7 - Sherlock (?)

[transcriptanon]

[Picture is a few pieces of paper or card stock with black and white illustrations of characters from the "Sherlock Holmes" books with the words "Sherlock Holmes, 221B Baker Street, London" below them. There are the spines of books (in a box?) below them, and an old looking or handmade deck of playing cards next to the illustrations.]

Everyone seems to think that if Watson hits Holmes and throws a fit during the reunion it is somehow healthier than the original version. Different strokes for different folks, but I think the scenario rather creepy than sweet. The fact that it's popular with Sherlock fans only shows that the relationship between John and Sherlock is far unhealthier than its canon analogue.

I'm tired of all the pointless rage in reunion fics.

[(Anonymous)]

I hardly call "I've been through the grieving process and accepted you're dead when you're really not, har har great joke" a 'pointless rage'.

I might prefer a mix of the two, a bit of a swoon and then once John realizes what's going on, rough Sherlock up a bit.

But book!Watson's reaction seemed very tame for me. Like "Oh no I've seen a ghost!"

Whereas John might have a bit of a rage about it, because his character seems suited to it.

[funyarinpainahat]

I think part of it comes from the time difference too. Back in the late nineteenth (early twentieth?) century, it would have been a bigger deal for any of the characters to hit each other.

[(Anonymous)]

1894. And, true.

[ninety6tears]

I don't have a problem with Watson reacting in a flawed human way but I have a very big problem with the attitude I've seen across many fandoms that that type of reaction is easily deserved or that it solves anything or that it's funny. I mean, there's a line between actually taking violence lightly and liking it when it's used to present the intensity of the situation, but I feel like many people don't take into account that that's assault, it can hurt like hell and there's a reason it's illegal to hurt somebody that way.

[(Anonymous)]

Canon Watson has lost more than John, and was friends with his Holmes a lot longer. There are some good fics where he doesn't just accept Holmes back right away without going to the length of punching him though.

As for John, we already know he'll punch Sherlock given a chance to do so, so it isn't that far out of line for the fan writers to assume that he will.

*sigh* I want to see the Ritchiverse reunion...

[(Anonymous)]

"As for John, we already know he'll punch Sherlock given a chance to do so"

This. I don't know why haven't this been pointed out before/above.

[(Anonymous)]

Wait wait wait.... is there video of the reunion out yet? I thought there was just the teaser trailer

[(Anonymous)]

I think this is just speculation based on something Moffat or Gatiss said a while back.

[(Anonymous)]

I've always felt the reunion fics that have John just turning around and leaving are the most realistic. I think his reaction to being punched in ASIB shows he has a bad temper and his tendency to walk out when he's pissed off is his way of controlling it. I think he'd leave because otherwise he'd hit.

[(Anonymous)]

A slightly violent reaction I'm fine with. A punch in the face is something that would be a knee-jerk reaction for a PTSD suffering soldier who's just found out he's suffered one of the biggest betrayals by someone he cared about probably more than anyone else. It's not pre-meditated, he doesn't think; "That bastard made me think he was dead so I am going to make sure he suffers back long-term." It fits this Watson...and I can see it fitting Ritchieverse!Watson too.

What annoys me more in reunion fics is not so much the violence as the angst. When people write it so that John is completely unable to forgive Sherlock and make out like what he did was the worst thing imaginable (forgetting of course that if Sherlock hadn't done what he did, John and two others would be dead). The kind of fans on Tumblr who say that the song 'Jar of Hearts' is so fitting for the reunion and how John should feel. Uh...no. John will be angry, sure, and want some space for a bit but he would still eventually understand Sherlock's reasons. And faking your death to save your friends is not the same as just being a selfish git who breaks up with someone only to try to get them back.