Fic: Walpurgisnacht: Gen
Apr. 29th, 2019 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stonepicnicking_okapi posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
holmes_minorTitle: Walpurgisnacht
Rating: Gen
Length: 500
Notes: Holmes/Watson. H/C. Fluffy schmoop. From my Haemoglobin 'verse in which Watson is a vampire.
Summary: Watson shows a photograph to Holmes.
Author's Notes: for the monthly prompt: change.
“Look at this man, Holmes,” I said, giving the photograph a hard flick of my index finger. “Look at his expression, his posture. He has no idea what awaits him. He thinks that he has seen all there is to see of suffering in his medical training. He thinks that the horrors of war will not overwhelm him. He thinks that the worst that he will witness is violent death. He does not know, he cannot know, that there are changes more violent than dying and that he himself will experience that change. He cannot fathom what will befall him!”
As I shook my head, I felt Holmes move behind me.
“I see a familiar glint of pawkish humour. I see a strong jaw that speaks of courage and an easily furrowed brow that hints at compassion, both of which circumstance has not altered in the least.”
“You are kind.”
“I am also honest. And curious. There’s a change that interests me more than difference between John Watson in the photograph and the one before me. That battered dispatch case has been gathering dust in Mrs. Hudson’s lumber room for more than a year, since the very day you arrived, but today, you have not only opened it, but you have elected to share an item of its contents with me. Singular, indeed. You needn’t answer the question, but I must ask it. Why?”
I turned to face Holmes
“It’s Walpurgisnacht. Something of a feast day.”
“Will you be going out?”
I shook my head. “It’s just made me thoughtful.” I turned my attention back to the photograph. “You know, this man, for all his ignorance and naivete, can be photographed. I cannot.”
I returned the photograph to the dispatch case with a sigh.
“What is the customary way of celebrating of Walpurgisnacht among your kind?”
“You don’t want to know.”
Holmes huffed. “Watson, that it is patently impossible that I don’t want to know something, especially something about which I’ve just inquired.”
That made me laugh.
“Resting vampires rise. Risen vampires gorge themselves. Roguish vampires turn as many as might be turned before the cock crows. It’s noisy and bloody.”
“Exchange of gifts?”
That made me guffaw.
“Oh, yes,” I replied with good-natured mockery, “Father Christmas shows up and all the good little vampires get oranges and walnuts in their stockings! No, Holmes, we don’t exchange gifts. To be frank, we don’t really like each other that much.”
“Then perhaps a bit of innovation wouldn’t go amiss.”
Holmes strode to his desk and produced a portfolio.
I closed the distance between us and peered over his shoulder.
“Oh, Holmes!”
“You may not be able to be photographed, Watson, but you can certainly be sketched. And see? I’m right. The glint. The jaw. The brow. They are all still there.”
“Holmes, if I had tears…”
“May Walpurgisnacht be a happy feast, my dear Watson, and know that the addition of you is, by far, the best change in my life.”
Rating: Gen
Length: 500
Notes: Holmes/Watson. H/C. Fluffy schmoop. From my Haemoglobin 'verse in which Watson is a vampire.
Summary: Watson shows a photograph to Holmes.
Author's Notes: for the monthly prompt: change.
“Look at this man, Holmes,” I said, giving the photograph a hard flick of my index finger. “Look at his expression, his posture. He has no idea what awaits him. He thinks that he has seen all there is to see of suffering in his medical training. He thinks that the horrors of war will not overwhelm him. He thinks that the worst that he will witness is violent death. He does not know, he cannot know, that there are changes more violent than dying and that he himself will experience that change. He cannot fathom what will befall him!”
As I shook my head, I felt Holmes move behind me.
“I see a familiar glint of pawkish humour. I see a strong jaw that speaks of courage and an easily furrowed brow that hints at compassion, both of which circumstance has not altered in the least.”
“You are kind.”
“I am also honest. And curious. There’s a change that interests me more than difference between John Watson in the photograph and the one before me. That battered dispatch case has been gathering dust in Mrs. Hudson’s lumber room for more than a year, since the very day you arrived, but today, you have not only opened it, but you have elected to share an item of its contents with me. Singular, indeed. You needn’t answer the question, but I must ask it. Why?”
I turned to face Holmes
“It’s Walpurgisnacht. Something of a feast day.”
“Will you be going out?”
I shook my head. “It’s just made me thoughtful.” I turned my attention back to the photograph. “You know, this man, for all his ignorance and naivete, can be photographed. I cannot.”
I returned the photograph to the dispatch case with a sigh.
“What is the customary way of celebrating of Walpurgisnacht among your kind?”
“You don’t want to know.”
Holmes huffed. “Watson, that it is patently impossible that I don’t want to know something, especially something about which I’ve just inquired.”
That made me laugh.
“Resting vampires rise. Risen vampires gorge themselves. Roguish vampires turn as many as might be turned before the cock crows. It’s noisy and bloody.”
“Exchange of gifts?”
That made me guffaw.
“Oh, yes,” I replied with good-natured mockery, “Father Christmas shows up and all the good little vampires get oranges and walnuts in their stockings! No, Holmes, we don’t exchange gifts. To be frank, we don’t really like each other that much.”
“Then perhaps a bit of innovation wouldn’t go amiss.”
Holmes strode to his desk and produced a portfolio.
I closed the distance between us and peered over his shoulder.
“Oh, Holmes!”
“You may not be able to be photographed, Watson, but you can certainly be sketched. And see? I’m right. The glint. The jaw. The brow. They are all still there.”
“Holmes, if I had tears…”
“May Walpurgisnacht be a happy feast, my dear Watson, and know that the addition of you is, by far, the best change in my life.”
no subject
Date: 2019-04-30 06:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-30 11:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-30 06:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-30 07:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-30 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-30 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-05-01 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-05-02 01:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-05-02 01:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-05-02 12:18 pm (UTC)