shinodabear: (sherlock: moriarty)
shinodabear ([personal profile] shinodabear) wrote2012-03-18 10:40 am

Post-Hounds Sherlock Ficlet: Diagnosed as Sound, G

Title: Diagnosed as Sound
Summary: Fear is only a word, and words cannot hurt him. Or so he tells himself.
Rating/Warnings: G; Spoilers for "Hounds of Baskerville"
Character/Pairing: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Jim Moriarty; gen
Disclaimer: All rights reserved for parties who are not myself.



It is a four letter word consisting of, in order, a voiceless labiodental fricative, a high front unrounded vowel, and a voiced retroflex alveolar liquid; a simple combination of sounds that result in [fir]. This sound has a meaning. To this meaning people ascribe an emotion that manifests physiologically in increased heart rate, sweat, increased respiration, dilated pupils, muscle tension, and paling of the skin and psychologically in the response of fight or flight.

It is fear.

He is afraid.

Of what? The devil that night? In Dewer's Hollow? There is no such thing as the devil. It is just a name, just a name and a face in the dark. He wouldn't trust what he had heard or what he had seen. There is no such thing as giant glowing hounds, as hounds of hell, no such thing as the devil, as evil.

"Sherlock?" John asks for the twelfth time, and, for the twelfth time, Sherlock ignores him. The compound is out of his system and has been for a better part of the week, but still there is that edge to his consciousness, the taut pull of anxiety that makes him jump at every creak and turn at every moving shadow. There are still the dreams.

"Sherlock!"

John goes ignored.

The dreams are a valid response to the trauma experienced in Dartmoor. He is not bothered by them because they are natural coping responses. In his dreams, the voice calls to him. Sherlock, Sherlock, Sherlock. In the light of morning, [ʤIm mɔriɑrti] is nothing but a collection of sounds, a name, and words cannot hurt him.

"Sherlock," John says for the fourteenth time, but this time his words are accompanied by actions. John deposits the laptop in front of him. It's John's blog. Boring. It's an entry with a video. "Hello Boys!" Not boring. He focuses on the missing comma in the subject line, and ignores the way John's shaking hand reaches over and presses play.

"Who lives in a house like this," Jim Moriarty asks.

They're only words, only sounds, but they may as well be made of sticks and stones. His heart rate increases. His muscles tense. He recognizes the urge to jump up and run.

It is fear.

He is afraid.
aschicca: (Default)

[personal profile] aschicca 2012-03-18 05:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Sweet Lord, I love you! I was rewatching Hounds the other day (because starvation is bad for me, ok?) and when Sherlock sees Moriarty instead of the doctor behind the gas mask, I thought: So Sherlock *is* scared of Moriarty, isn't he?

And look! Right here! Proof! *kisses your brain*

Also, loved the fact that you had Sherlock watch Jim's video (always wanted that to happen in the show, too,) and this There is no such thing as giant glowing hounds, as hounds of hell made me all gleeful because of the "glowing" bit (costume made by Sherlock in order to experiment on an average mind... poor John, really *g*)

In conclusion, I adored this *nods*
evilawyer: young black-tailed prairie dog at SF Zoo (Default)

[personal profile] evilawyer 2012-03-18 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooooh. Chilling!
daphnie_1: Sherlock with his magnifying glass against a blue sky. (Sherlock | Moriarty | Your letter is onl)

[personal profile] daphnie_1 2012-03-18 11:32 pm (UTC)(link)
This is lovely! If, you know, that's the right tone of word *G* you know what I mean xD I love how tightly controled and structured it is, the paralell opening and closeing and the discussion of the sounds (which, as you already know) was something I loved <3

Eerie (literally) and absolutely fantasticly done.

So much love.