(no subject)

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2524 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secret Santa sign-ups go up tomorrow! There will be a post explaining everything again/open to questions, too. Keep an eye out! :)

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 073 secrets from Secret Submission Post #361.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

02. http://i.imgur.com/lUu0MBI.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

That is some fantastic art.

[dreemyweird]

Why do I have a sudden urge to put a "lurky threesome Holmes" tag on this art?.. It looks like Holmes is photobombing Watson and Mary's romantic picture out of spite.

As to the actual secret: inorite. Even the best of canon Holmes/Watson shippers regularly throw in some line (or even a whole paragraph) about how Watson did not really love Mary or how their relationship was just convenient for Watson to cover his love for Holmes. I'm not joking, I've seen it in otherwise good fics by good authors. It's RAGE and instant backbutton for me, not only because I hate Mary bashing, but also because I consider it a sign of cheesy, bad writing (the way I see it, a story may be good in every other regard, but this particular line/paragraph is cheesy, bad writing. And then it diminishes the value of the rest of the work for me).

[tweedisgood]

I don't.* Although "Watson simply made Mary and the other wives up" is IMO permissible on the 'unreliable narrator' basis.

OTOH of course I may not qualify as among "the best of canon Holmes/Watson shippers", heh. But I've seen plenty of others who don't do this, and I cheer them on. You can love more than one person. Simples.

* maybe-sort-of in the first thing I ever wrote, but determinedly never since

[dreemyweird]

Yes, that'd be fine with me.

I'm not all that much into romance, so I may be missing out on some really fine examples. But I've seen a few people who do not do that at all; and in my books, you are a pretty good writer. So, it is not an omnipresent tendency. I suppose it simply upsets me a lot.

You can love more than one person. Simples.

Exactly. Bisexual (or otherwise-straight-but/otherwise-gay-but) Watson who has loved Mary and now loves Holmes=well done.

[tweedisgood]

Bisexual (or otherwise-straight-but/otherwise-gay-but) Watson who has loved Mary and now loves Holmes=well done..

Bisexual Watson every time for me.

[intrigueing]

Fuck yes. To all of this. Just on principle, in any fandom, I tend to side-eye the "oh, I wasn't REALLY in love with her" trope really hard because it's so fucking childish. For one: really? You do realize that it's possible to love more than one person? And it's possible to love one person, love them genuinely, and then fall in love with someone else after that person dies? Like, you know this, right? For another: it's just not cool. The whole "omg yes I had all these relationships BUT I WAS IN LOVE WITH YOU THE WHOLE TIME" thing makes me go okay, so, you were actually obsessed with this other guy during all your past relationships? So, why exactly am I supposed to believe you're srs bsns in love THIS time any more than you were the last five times you said you were in love with other people? That's not romantic. It's usually pathetic for anyone over 25.

I dunno. I may be oversensitive to this because it used to occur so damn frequently in oldschool Kirk/Spock from Star Trek TOS -- people making a big point of saying "oh noes Kirk totally did NOT love Edith Keeler. And he totally did not even love Miramee even though he had amnesia at the time. Also, he wasn't actually even friends with Gary Mitchell, even though that pairing is non-canon." And other bullshit.

[agnes_bean]

+1

I think childish/immature is the right way to describe why this trope rubs me so wrong in general. Especially because if you want to achieve the same "my OTP is the best, most special love" effect, IMO it's a lot more realistic (and less creepy of the character) for them to be like, "Yes, I loved X, but my love for you is different/stronger/more full of lust/more likely to last the rest of my life/whatever else applies." Because every love IS different, and, depending on the situation a lot of shippers will probably agree that the OTP love is the most soul-matey or whatever else. And that's fine. That happens. People find the one person they love THE MOST, or want to spend their life with for whatever other reason. But that doesn't mean all their past loves are invalid.

[intrigueing]

OMG pissy!Holmes in the background of that art made me crack up so hard :D

(Also IDGAF if they only met a couple days before and barely know each other and really should not be falling in love that quickly -- that scene near the end with Watson and Mary and that godforsaken treasure chest is one of my favorite romantic scene in any book I have ever read. Like, ever.)

[(Anonymous)]

Oh my god, I love the fanart

[(Anonymous)]

The entire first chapter of The Sign Of Four is 95% Holmes trying his damnedest to win multiple gold medals in every single category of the Dickbag Olympics that it is possible to compete in from a sitting-room armchair.

I mean seriously, insulting Watson's writing and then immediately following it by droning for a page and a half about how this random French asshole was so much better a writer than Watson and so much better a detective than Watson and was so much better at praising Holmes without bitching about his cocaine than Watson? I'm surprised Watson didn't just tell him to go move in with his stupid French translator guy if he liked him so much.

At least Holmes was adorable for the rest of the book, but damn.

[tweedisgood]

The entire first chapter of The Sign Of Four is 95% Holmes trying his damnedest to win multiple gold medals in every single category of the Dickbag Olympics that it is possible to compete in from a sitting-room armchair.

LOL, excellent.

[elephantinegrace]

You can ship the same character with two different people. Even simultaneously.

[(Anonymous)]

He totally deserved it IMO. Romantic or platonic, Holmes was taking Watson for granted, and Watson wasn't pursuing his own desires and being an independent person enough.

Also, I think the space suited them at the time, showed that they were real, genuine friends, not just friends-because-they-were-roommates-who-would-drift-apart-otherwise. It also made Holmes admit that he needed friends and forced him to actually take initiative and seek out Watson and ask him to come on investigations with him rather than just assuming he'd come following after Holmes.

And it made their reunion after the hiatus more believable because it was a completely independent choice, not a matter of convenience or habit. And from a shipping perspective, it gave them the opportunity to re-fall in love properly after the hiatus/showed Holmes he couldn't just push Watson around and neglect him if he wanted to keep him.

[dreemyweird]

+1 to the last two paragraphs.

[tweedisgood]

Agree with your last two paragraphs, but not your first. The idea of Mary as some kind of revenge against Holmes doesn't fit either the story or the idea of Mary as a Good Thing, which she was.

[(Anonymous)]

Eh, my first paragraph was kind of facetious -- I meant it more as a reaction to everyone who goes "oh poor Holmes why is Watson so ~cruel~ to him" or views the whole marriage as one big obstacle that should never have happened.

[tweedisgood]

Fair enough. People think Watson is cruel to Holmes? In what alternative universe, lol?

[(Anonymous)]

It just now occurs to me that in fanfic-land, everyone wants a piece of Watson, but no one but Watson ever wants Holmes. That's a little sad.

[tweedisgood]

Not the case, I can assure you. Holmes/Victor Trevor is very popular.

[(Anonymous)]

Holmes is looking unfortunately Phantom-of-the-Opera-ish there... ;)

Secret 2 - The Sign of Four (Sherlock Holmes novel)

[transcriptanon]

[Picture is a colored image by "daaakota" where John Watson and Mary Morstan are kissing on the street, while Sherlock Holmes looks on from his window in contempt.]

Not Secret: I'm a huge Holmes/Watson shipper.

Secret: Holmes was such an unappreciative passive-aggressive pill at the start of The Sign of Four that I totally cheered when Mary stole Watson away with her sweetness and left Holmes all alone.

Secret Because: Fanfic has assured me that these two opinions are incompatible, for some reason.