Sherlock fic: The Game's Afoot

[derry667]

Title: The Game's Afoot
Fandom: Sherlock (BBC)
Author: derry667
Disclaimer: It's all rather petty to talk about who owns what, don't you think? Shakespeare, Doyle, Gatiss, Moffat, the BBC, whoever. They all own various parts of this stuff. Not me. I'm not responsible. Ask anyone.
Characters: Tall, Dark and Scathing & Short, Fair and (Mostly) Deadpan. [

Comments

[goldvermilion87]

YAY! SHERLOCK DOES KNOW HIS SHAKESPEARE!

I would be sadly disappointed if John did and Sherlock did not.

I really enjoyed this story. Giggled quite a bit while reading. Thanks for sharing. :-)

[derry667]

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it.

I must admit that the original idea to write this came to me when I was reading a review of the Sherlock series where the reviewer said something like "Of course, he says 'The Game is on!'. He wouldn't say 'The Game's afoot' unless he was quoting the Victorian Holmes who doesn't exist in this universe." And my knee-jerk response (in my own head) was "No, idiot! He'd be quoting SHAKESPEARE, just like the Victorian Holmes was!" And then I wondered if Shakespeare would actually be something that Sherlock would put in his hard drive. And then I reasoned that ACD's Holmes also had an attic in his brain that he selectively filled with facts and HE found room for Shakespeare, so why not...

And then there was fic ;-)

[goldvermilion87]

Haha! Major reviewer!fail there. Hey, if they'd watched the RDJ film, they would have heard THE WHOLE CONTEXT!

In my head-canon Sherlock does know some literature. This is obviously in part wishful thinking, but if you think about it, he does make a lot of allusions. More pop-culture-y than strictly literary, but they do prove that he retains some more humanities-related information. So maybe it's justified?

I don't think I would've bought John knowing Henry V that well without the Branagh film explanation (which I TOTALLY buy) though, because I don't see John as the literary type. See his blog. :-D

[paratti]

Cries, Havoc!

Loved it.

[derry667]

And let slip the dogs of war!

Glad you like.

;-)

[starrylizard]

Wheeee! You posted! I love this, but you know that. It has a brilliant read-a-loud kinda quality to it too! :D

[derry667]

Thanks. This week has been a little nuts. So, it took me a little while to get back to it.

(I've printed out your crossover notes and am carrying them around with me BTW).

[ias]

Fun :)

Btw, a couple of Brit-picks: John wouldn't say high school just school (it would be obvious that it was secondary rather than primary school because you don't get English teachers in primary schools). Also theatres are where plays are put on, films are shown in cinemas so it would be the cinema manager not the theatre manager. John would also probably say 'after the film' rather 'than after the movie'.

[derry667]

Thank you kindly.

Especially for the Brit-picks. I do appreciate them. I don't tend to get the fics that I write for American series Yank-picked either, but I do sometimes apologise for the un-Americanisms in advance. Maybe I got a bit cocky with the British stuff in this - or maybe it's some sort of subconscious revenge for the bloody Ashes! ;-P

I will change the words to film and cinema. To be honest, I thought about it briefly as I was writing it and thought I might be over-Britifying things. Try too hard, y'know? But evidently not

[ias]

The high school thing is def. changing speech so your audience will understand. It just isn't used as a designation in the UK. Some schools are called High Schools in their name (but then some school are called academies etc etc) but the generic is secondary school rather than high school. It really strikes the wrong note to have a character of John's age talk about high school to another British character.

And just using school by itself isn't a class thing per se. Asking someone 'where did you go to school' might be a more upper class question but just saying you did something at school isn't. If you don't want to use school by itself then secondary school would be the phrase to use.

[derry667]

Well, I've got to say that you make an exceedingly good case.

"School" it is, then.

:-)

[sirona_gs]

May i say that it was a singular pleasure to read this ficlet? I loved their discussion, John being sly, Sherlock knowing his Shakespeare, the way they are both a match for each other. I loved John in this, but it was Sherlock's reactions that made me smile. I very rarely read fiction outside a pairing, but I am ever so glad to have made the exception!

Honestly, I have to tell you, I enjoyed this immensly. The language you used, the way you wielded words, descriptions, reactions -- it was perfect, and contributed to at least half of my enjoyment of the story. I would love, love to read more from you! It was a subtle joy I derived from your writing style. Utterly delightful! I must say, this is the first (and possibly only) story I've read where the characters' names are not used in their identification, and yet the descriptions of the two men did not make me want to weep with frustration; indeed, they fitted the characters perfectly, and there was never any doubt as to whom you were referring, for which I must congratulate you.

[derry667]

Thank you so much! I'm really very flattered that you enjoyed it so much, especially if it falls outside your usual fic preferences.

I was experimenting with the writing style here. I did want to be very descriptive so as to make the characters recognisable while deliberately not using their names. And I also wanted it to be a bit "atmospheric". So glad that it seems to have worked for you.

Cheers.