vulgarweed: (OK by london_fan)
vulgarweed ([personal profile] vulgarweed) wrote2015-01-18 09:05 pm

Bone Fiddle-verse 221B: "Setting the Tone" (part 1)

A very belated New Year's Eve-themed 221B drabble. I'm dedicating this to [livejournal.com profile] write_out because she's had a crap week.

Title: Setting the Tone (pt 1)
Fandom: Sherlock (AU, Bone-Fiddle-verse)
Pairing: Sherlock/John
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Summary: Once again, John teaches Sherlock to have a little respect for tradition.



“John, what are you doing? It’s freezing.”

“Put more wood on the fire then,” John shouted down the stairs. “And don’t close that door. We’ve gotta let all the bad luck out!”

Sherlock stood at the bottom wearing that venomous expression he got when he was personally offended by someone’s stupidity. John turned his back on it and went to open windows in the upstairs bathroom and the dusty bedroom they never used. If Sherlock closed them downstairs, there’d be hell to pay.

Instead, John heard stalking, stomping footsteps behind him as he went to the bedroom they did use (very well). As John hoisted the old wooden windows open, a blast of frigid mountain wind howled in. “New Years Eve, Sherlock. Tradition. We’re having ham and cabbage and greens and black-eyed peas tomorrow too, because that symbolizes money, and Mrs. Hudson will probably put silver in the cabbage, so mind you don’t swallow it.”

“Tradition--” Sherlock said, about to launch into a diatribe.

“Hush,” John said. “You’ll like this one. What you’re doin’ at midnight, you’ll be doin’ all the rest of the year.”

Sherlock looked mutinous.

John looked at the clock and grinned. “You know what I wanna do all year. So take off your clothes and get in bed.”



~



Any other drabble writers out there driven absolutely mad by the way Google Docs and Open Office don't register word counts the same way, so they never match exactly? Open Office says this is a legit 221B, goddammit.

[identity profile] azriona.livejournal.com 2015-01-19 11:23 am (UTC)(link)
Love it! John's accent just tickles me pink. :)

[identity profile] vulgarweed.livejournal.com 2015-01-20 12:56 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

We always struggle a little bit with how much to write the accent out. Laying it on too thick is just horrible, but we want to make sure the reader can "hear" it. (For those characters who have it, that is. Sherlock and Mycroft don't - they speak like the moderately wealthy, well-connected Central/Northern Virginians they actually are.)

It's very difficult to convey, without outright stating, for example, that Sherlock and John do not pronounce "Appalachian" the same way. :)

[identity profile] azriona.livejournal.com 2015-01-20 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
How do they pronounce it, then?

[identity profile] vulgarweed.livejournal.com 2015-01-20 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
Sherlock, like most outsiders, would say it "App-a-laytch-ia". 3rd syllable has a long A, doesn't rhyme with much except the letter h (aitch!).

John, who grew up there, would say it "App-a-latch-ia." Short a in the third syllable. Rhymes with patch, snatch, catch, and Cumberbatch.

Though Sherlock has probably noticed this and done a little correcting on it. He can mimic the accent when he has to. Going native, one syllable and one rednecky habit at a time.
Edited 2015-01-20 02:02 (UTC)

[identity profile] azriona.livejournal.com 2015-01-20 02:08 am (UTC)(link)
Awesome, thank you. (But the real question is: how do they pronounce "pecan"? *grin*)

[identity profile] vulgarweed.livejournal.com 2015-01-20 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
Could be any which way really, but it only ever comes up in conjunction with "pie" and only when Mrs. Hudson is baking one. :)

[identity profile] azriona.livejournal.com 2015-01-20 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
*snickers*