BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » Secret Santa Fic Exchange 2015

mrshouse · December 10, 2015 8:54 am

Of ships, horses, and trains or How idioms can go wrong

Oh, what a lovely, lovely present! And today of all days in december!
Thank you for that, Schmiezi, and thank you, dear unknown author, for this heartwarming read!
Have you ever been to Venice? If not, you definetely have done a thorough research on the city. How nicely you captured the atmosphere with the cramped places, but also the quieter ones (yes, you can find those in Venice, and they are only a couple of calles away from Piazza San Marco), the pallazzi (the hotel is wonderful!), the festivity...
I had to smile at the "Travelonymous", great wordplay, I imagine they are a bit like "lonely planet" or something.
Sherlock and John were wonderful in character. The description of the two not being able to just talk ( FCS!) was very accurate and driving me into insanity, especially because you get the point of view from both men. You resolved this very much in character with John begging for not being interrupted because he would never get the courage to start confessing again. Very touching that, I always imagine them confessing and realizing their mutual love to be rather simple but never corny.
And I always love a couple of good laughs: the beginning with the ranting at the films, the texts with Mycroft ("Cake?", bwahaha...), John packing a cap, I ask you!
Oh, I just wanted to mention that funny little "crossover" with Dr. Who (can anyone imagine Sherlock watching this? The movies really must have got to him...) and I remember that I must do the movie guessing...
Hm...1) "The iceman" maybe?
2) definetely "Death in Venice", Thomas Mann, great movie bei Lucchino Visconti.
3) "Don't look now", brilliant movie, a bit depressing though, but Julie Christie and Don Sutherland are hot!
4) I must admit, I don't know...
Thank you very much for this wonderful present, dear unknown author!

Last edited by mrshouse (December 10, 2015 8:59 am)

stoertebeker · December 10, 2015 12:24 pm

Gosh, the fics seems to get longer and longer, but I am slowly catching up.

The Advent Calender

To quote our favourite army doctor: "That was amazing!" Definitivly one of my favourits so far! Though I am a Johnlocker it was still nice to read a just-friendship story for a change as these can be very moving as well
I am always dreading that I might get a case fic wish as the prompt for the Secret Santa one day because I would have no idea how to construct a proper case for a Sherlock Story. How did you do that? The story was marvelous! The idea with the advent calender and how the clues match togehter to the actual crimes, wow! I admire this clever way of storytelling and yes, I am a little bit jealous too (this is meant as a compliment).
The scenes on the christmas market and in the woods were really exciting and I was almost gnawing on my nails due to the tension. The descriptions of the sceneries and the atmosphere were very vivid. Also the discription of Sherlock's mind palace and especially the people inside there were very clever and IMO fit perfectly to the stuff we have seen so far in the show. And a lot of kudos for the conclusion of Sherlock's whole mind palace ordeal was very clever as well. Mrs. Hudson proofed herself once again as a motherly friend to Sherlock, so lovely . Thank you as well for the way you put Mary in the story. As I am not in the "camp" of the Mary-dislikers, I was very pleased to find her as a nice character here. That is exactly the way she was shown in S3E1 and S3E2, I think, supportive but still a background character. And that's the way I would like her to be part of the series.
Thank you very much, unkown author, for this wonderful gift

nakahara · December 10, 2015 8:12 pm

On ships, horses and trains or How idioms can go wrong

Playful, light-hearted and witty fic that made my day. Written in a swift, easy-going style it practically read itself and was a delight from the beginning to the end.

I absolutely loved the first sequence, in which Sherlock criticises movies about Venice. I recognised the movie with „the dwarves with knives masked as Little Red Riding Hood“ and LOL, Sherlock voiced exactly my thoughts, I was as puzzled as he was when I saw the piece for the first time. I could immediately relate to him that way.

Sherlock bullying Mycroft through the phone and forcing him to find him a case in Venice was hilarious and yet so in character! I could so imagine this conversation actually taking place in the show itself!

And the beautiful La Serenissima itself, enticing despite annoying pigeons on St Mark´s Place and the overpriced coffee made from roasted golden nuggets! You wonderfully captured the atmosphere of the place without needing many pompous words, which I liked immensely (plus, I have fallen in love with that nice hotel you chose as the setting of the main Johnlock storyline – very nice place, indeed).

Althrough your story was funny, the Johnlock „red thread“ interwoven inside the tapestry of your action was still very touching. I was glad that John managed to erase his old memories of Venice and replace them with new ones and it brought me big joy that he managed to prove all three idioms wrong – his horse has not bolted, his ship had not yet sailed and his train has not yet left the station. And no wonder, with such sweet and caring Sherlock.

Really refreshing tale which brought a big smile on my face. Thank you, dear unknown author!

Schmiezi · December 10, 2015 9:13 pm

Hi everybody. I am sick and won't go to work tomorrow and next week. Hence, the fics will be posted later that usual, most likely in the afternoon.

SusiGo · December 10, 2015 9:18 pm

Get well soon.

nakahara · December 10, 2015 9:28 pm

mrshouse · December 10, 2015 9:48 pm

Get well soon, Schmiezi.

besleybean · December 11, 2015 6:31 am

Gosh, yes,sorry to hear of your illness.
Take Care.

gently69 · December 11, 2015 7:39 am

Oh yes, get well soon, Schmiezi.

Lilythiell · December 11, 2015 1:01 pm

Oh, Schmiezi, I'm sorry to hear you're sick!
Get well soon, plenty of rest (and cups of tea) and stay warmly indoors

The Adventure of The Mechanical Turk

I adored this story. Thank you so much, unknown author!
I liked the oh so many details you put in your story, how you managed to take me back in time.
The amount of research in that work mustn’t be overlooked –historical details, language and the elaboration of that case come to mind.
God, that case! Evident –dare I say, elementary- but not immediately. Unless you’re Sherlock Holmes ;)
I also liked very much the fact that the case took precedence over the emotional Johnlock –though I did like it very, very much –How sweet Holmes can be, really …and how Watson is…well, very John, here. Tee-hee.

Thank you for an exciting read, unknown author

silverblaze · December 11, 2015 1:49 pm

Hi Schmiezi, get well soon. I heard the flu is a bit rampant these days. I do hope you didn't infect the whole class.

Also, excuses to the fellow writers whose stories I just skipped. I promise to catch up and read and comment on your story too. My work schedule was a bit crazy this week.

On ships horses and trains
I just loved the beginning with all the films and Sherlock's snarky interpretation. Completely how I imagine he'd react. And I did try to guess which films they were but I don't think I've seen any of them. I actually don't recall seeing a film set in Venice ever, so sorry, but what a great touch!

The conversation with Mycroft was so funny an IC. Really something for Sherlock to drag John to Venice just to make him stop the film torture.

So for everyone who hasn't worked it out already, I'm a non shipper. However, even though I'm not really a romance fan, I did enjoy the way the romance was written. Of course, as soon as we learn of Mary's sudden disappearance, we know the story couldn't go any other way, but the way to get there was interesting.
All the misunderstandings were so completely logical and IC. Of course they would assume that the other would just want to remain friends, that's what they were for all these years. And of course they're both so emotionally constipated to take forever to work out their feelings for each other. Very well characterised indeed!

And how convenient for us that Sherlock brought an old shirt that was too small for him.

The only thing I didn't really get was the title as it had three things in it that weren't in the story, nor was the story about them. And where are the gondolas? Only joking, Venice is a great location, even without gondolas, we can just imagine those in the background.

Schmiezi · December 11, 2015 2:04 pm

Thank you all so much! I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

nakahara · December 11, 2015 2:19 pm

silverblaze wrote:
The only thing I didn't really get was the title as it had three things in it that weren't in the story, nor was the story about them.

The horses, ships and trains were mentioned as the part of the idioms that proved untrue.
John has a fear that "this horse has already bolted, this ship has already sailed, this train has already left the station" but thankfully, this idea of his doesn´t hold water as the story progresses. Personally, I think this was a clever touch from the author.

mrshouse · December 11, 2015 3:36 pm

silverblaze wrote:
And where are the gondolas?

I love Venice to pieces but the gondolas are for tourists. And I was happy with my birthday fic without gondolas.
And @Silver, have you seen neither "Death in Venice" nor "Don't look now"?

Last edited by mrshouse (December 11, 2015 5:17 pm)

besleybean · December 11, 2015 6:20 pm

Death in Venice...sigh. Love it.

silverblaze · December 11, 2015 7:54 pm

nakahara wrote:
The horses, ships and trains were mentioned as the part of the idioms that proved untrue.

Okay, fair enough I missed those. I kept looking for horses and trains and was a bit puzzled when they didn't show up.

@mrshouse: No, I don't think I have. But I loved the references anyway.

And happy birthday

dioscureantwins · December 11, 2015 9:07 pm

Hi Schmiezi,

I do hope you'll get well soon.

dioscureantwins · December 11, 2015 9:12 pm

On ships, horses and trains or how idioms can go wrong

What a fun story. I always love it when they leave London and do envy them a bit for I've never yet visited Venice.
Fun to see the PSoS make an appearance, though in a slightly different version.

I recognised but two films though. Death in Venice and Don't Look Now.

TBH I don't know whether Sherlock would appreciate Mahler, though it surely adds to the films general atmosphere.

besleybean · December 11, 2015 9:20 pm

I do hope Sherlock appreciates Mahler...I'd be disappointed if he didn't!

dioscureantwins · December 11, 2015 9:22 pm

besleybean wrote:
I do hope Sherlock appreciates Mahler...I'd be disappointed if he didn't!

Oh, so you're a Mahler fan. Apologies. Somehow I always imagine Sherlock far more appreciative of Beethoven and Baroque music.