No Kill I

I've been posting a series of stories, only the first of which I've mentioned here. Since I updated tonight, I thought I'd throw the whole list up: 

every choice you make creates a universe by Laura JV

an infinite series of accidents
Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Tags: Parentlock, Asexual Character, Post-Season/Series 04, sherlock has the emotional range of a teaspoon, Pining, except sherlock doesn't know it's pining, emotional context, john needs therapy, Everyone Needs A Hug, Sexuality is a spectrum, Asexual Sherlock Holmes/Heterosexual John Watson
Summary: In the universes where we are happy, we claim the accidents we love best, hold them tight, and know them for miracles.

the other side of an invisible wall (14-15 October, 2025)
Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Summary: They've been married for a while, but sometimes things still need to change.

saturday morning, playground, coffee (22 June, 2024)
Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Summary: Rosie & Freya are best friends.

Rosie’s dad & Freya’s mum are...not.

we're not free (2015)
Mary Morstan/John Watson
Summary: John is a black box. So is she.

In two days, everything goes to hell, but for just this instant they have each other.

that cell collided with this one
Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Tags: John Goes To Therapy, john is not good with words sometimes, sherlock has the emotional range of a teaspoon, Relationship Negotiation, Asexual Sherlock Holmes/Heterosexual John Watson, Established Relationship, Post-Season/Series 04, Non-Linear Narrative, Parentlock
Summary: It’s easier for John to talk about Sherlock in therapy.
It’s easier for Sherlock to talk to John in bed.

basingstoke, upon learning of my deep love of Sherlock marriage-of-convenience stories, wrote me one.

Bells are Ringing. Mycroft's gone and made Sherlock French, for no-doubt nefarious reasons.

Title: Contamination
Fandom: Sherlock (BBC)
Warnings: Choose not to warn.
Rating: 15+
Wordcount: ~17,000
Summary: In which an artistic murder draws Irene Adler and her brother Nathan into the lives of Lestrade and Holmes, and Dr John Watson balances his morals against the happiness that is a warm gun.
Other locations: AO3 (no warnings) // sherlockbbc header post (with warnings)

Heartfelt thank-yous to the following people:
basingstoke, without whose support and thoughtful contributions this story would be an unfinished blob of text;
beatrice_otter, who found a major characterization problem and helped me think of ways to fix it;
ngaio, for the thorough Britpick & beta, including a lot of class information that informs John's character;
and mandragora, who went above and beyond the call of duty and generously gave of her limited time to school me on British legal and police procedures. In the process, she corrected some severe errors at the outline stage, and saved me much heartache and grief.

Without their help, this story would have died on the vine.

Index: 1. Something is going to be horrid // 2. And the rain sets in // 3. Your shadow on my wall // 4. The voyeur of utter destruction // 5. A small plot of land // Epilogue: Toll the bell // End notes

I've seen bits in...more than one Sherlock story to the effect that John has the wrong build for rugby, so I thought I'd say...no, he doesn't. Really! I know a lot of people think it's all huge people hitting each other, but it's not.

I'm an ex-rugby player, and if a man John's size and shape told me he'd played, my reaction would assuredly not be "pull the other one". John (well, Martin Freeman) is 5'7". That's Peter Stringer's height, and Stringer played for Ireland! There are a number of pro players who come in at 5'5" or 5'6".

The smallest male rugby player I've ever met is about 5'4" and probably around 150 lbs. He played hooker, and was extremely small for that position, but his quick foot was much more important than his lack of size.

Point is, there's not a particular build that works or doesn't work for rugby, and Sherlock's version of John Watson is well within the (very large) range of builds that do.

Also! If you are a Sherlock writer who is putting some rugby bits into your story, feel free to ask me to take a look. I played rugby union, both pre- and post- the 2007 rules changes.

I cannot remember the last time I had a story rolling along at 10K+ words. Of course, this one would have frozen to death by now if not for 750words.com; I am entertained by my stats page over there (though I don't want to share it; not really sure why but there you go). For example, from today's stats:

Frequently used words:

adler cold don't eyes face hands he held her here him his holmes into john just know lestrade like long looked man me no not segment she she's sherlock sherlock's still thump watson years

"segment" is from all the outline notes that are in there. Overall, the primary concerns of this story, according to the analyses the site uses, are "death" and "relationships".

That's not too far off....