justtwomushrooms

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let’s tell each other stories

followed by the color sketch and the original idea

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Boredom

I’m sorry if the quality is low, I am not sure why that is.

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Anyway ignoring how much The Second Stain validates it, I want to pick apart the ‘women are inscrutable’ bit from the story on a purely Watsonian level.

There’s no way around it being sexist, but it’s a brand particularly entwined with Holmes’ confidence and pride. Mr. ‘I never guess’ hates having a blind spot—and for him, an unmarried man with no sisters and little chance for female acquaintanceship, that blind spot is the entire realm of women’s behavior. He can’t put it under a microscope like cigarette ash or pick it apart like a cipher.

And he doesn’t have the elaborate gendered social rules drilled into him like his own (which tie into an autistic interpretation of how memorizing those as scripts help him notice when people deviate from them). If he had that level of familiarity, I’m sure he could learn it as well as he had for men—and see the ones who are good at hiding things as simply that, such as the man with the ‘Sunday school innocence’ he described in The Norwood Builder.

It becomes an enigma, but instead of admitting he just doesn’t know and can’t easily read half of the human population, he turns the fault onto women. Since it’s unclear when this case happens, it is easily read as pre-Scandal in Bohemia, where he has to learn humility and reevaluate his views.

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You really start to realize how much Holmes grabs Watson's hands and coat sleeves (including the first time they met) when you realize he doesn't do it to literally anyone else. You also really realize how flattering Watson's descriptions of Holmes body is when you notice how mean he is about pretty much every other man's appearance that they meet

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Watson out there really writing like

haha yea, and yesterday someone referred to you as my detective, isn't that just like...

twirls hair

so funny, haha

Reading Hound of the Baskervilles and cracking up at Watson’s letters to Holmes

Holmes: Watson, do you think you could make a study of some of the neighbors connected to this mystery and write to me what you find?

Watson: Certainly!

Watson, writing the “important details” using a glitter gel pen: I think you ought to know some of the people here are very pretty, Holmes! 

This Mr Barrymore is a striking looking fellow. He could steal the heart of a country girl for sure! I thought he might be having a love affair with someone; it turned out he wasn’t but I thought I’d mention it because love affairs are always very dramatic and interesting.

There is also a woman who is so fascinating, and beautiful, and I daresay Sir Henry (who is also good looking, btw) has a crush on her! I have never seen a man so infatuated. Can’t blame him—have I mentioned she’s beautiful? Because she is. Very.

ALSO—

Holmes asked Watson for a scientific report and Watson, bless him, sent him carefully handwritten tabloids about all the local drama

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Sitting at breakfast one afternoon

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“Like many other authors, Mr Conan Doyle converts his shirtcuffs into a note book, on which he jots down ideas which strike him when paper is not handy. One of Sherlock Holmes’ most enthralling adventures was nearly lost through this habit, the telegraph having to be brought into requisition to prevent the laundress expunging from a cuff an idea that had not been transferred to paper.”

— Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough, 7 September 1894. (via acdoyles)

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Women in Sherlock Holmes: women are surprisingly smart and resilient, and have very diverse personalities and goals. Also they are emotional and weak and must be protected by big strong men with no sense of self preservation. Can you tell the author has sisters.

Women in Dracula: women are pure, noble creatures who are delicate and sensitive. They are smart and helpful, and devoted to their husbands and friends. Still weak.

Women in The Picture Of Dorian Gray: women are not as disgusting as Lord Henry says. But they are still dumb and shallow and will be mocked for daring to have a personality. As opposed to men, who are smart and beautiful with their rosy lips. The author is totally not gay.

Women in Jekyll And Hyde: women? What are those?

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I love how Arthur Conan Doyle just kept blaming Holmes and Watson for his slightly sloppy storytelling throughout the stories.

"A plot hole? Holmes wasn’t smart enough to figure it out. Tut tut.

A lame ending? This shit was lame from the start, but Holmes let his ego get the better of him and took everything way too seriously. (whispers Norbury in his ear)

Nonexistent chronology and forgetting the poor characters’ names? It’s not my fault that James Watson is an unreliable and stupid character! (That’s his name… right?)"

Absolutely not his fault.

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“I felt Holmes’s hand steal into mine”

Rereading the case of Charles Augustus Milverton and the amount of touches drive me insane😩:

“He seized my hand in the darkness”

“Still holding my hand in one of his…”

“I touched Holmes on the arm”

“Putting his lips to my very ear”

“From the pressure of Holmes’s shoulder against mine I knew…”

“I felt Holmes’s hand steal into mine and give me a reassuring shake”

“When I felt Holmes’s cold, strong grip upon my wrist… I understood the whole argument of that firm, restraining grip”

“I fell upon my face among some bushes, but Holmes had me on my feet in an instant”

Honorable mentions:

“With a glow of admiration I watched Holmes”

“My eyes met those of Holmes and he put his finger to his lips”

“Dr Watson is my friend and partner.”

Lestrade: “He was a middle-sized, strongly built man — square jaw, thick neck, moustache, a mask over his eyes.”

Holmes: “That’s rather vague. My, it might be a description of Watson!”

“Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so. We have shared this same room for some years, and it would be amusing if we ended by sharing the same cell.”

Holmes managing to make even a prison cell turn into something gay makes me so happy

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What really solidified Sherlock Holmes as a queer character for me was not his "intimate friendship" with Dr. Watson, nor the fact that he seemingly pays no romantic interest towards anybody or even the idea of a relationship, it's the fact that he keeps spitting sassy one-liners out of nowhere.

Scandal in Bohemia. The King says of Irene Norton: "Is it not a shame she was not on my level?"

Holmes replies: "Yes, SHE👆🏻is on a very different level from ... you👇🏻."

The Blue Carbuncle. Holmes lets the thief escape and says to Watson: "After all, I am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies." 🤷🏻‍♂️

The Speckled Band. After admitting he is indirectly responsible for Dr. Roylott's death: "Oh no 💁🏻‍♂️ how shall I live with this weight on my conscience 🫢😌?"

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purr

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yurpppp

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Watson will be like “Holmes blushed, his eyes twinkled when be smiled, he clapped his hands when he was excited, he once laughed so hard he choked and had to flop over in his chair, he shook hands with a baby, he played pranks on people, he complimented a very silly-looking dog, he waxed poetic about music and flowers and hope and human souls. But he doesn’t fall in love with people—even the pretty ones! The man is a machine.”

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imagine being watson's editor in the 19th century and having to beg him to write like a normal heterosexual person only for him to keep waxing poetic about holmes's long, sensitive fingers every five pages and writing shit like "his lips grazed my ear" and "i felt holmes's hand steal into mine" and "holmes's cold, thin fingers closed round my wrist". i would quit honestly

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I don't know what the applicability of this data is, if any, but it can't be denied that it does exist now, so you guys can look at it if you want

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Good morning my dear

Another doodle because I can’t draw anything properly with my tendinitis…