Steadies the Nerves

[capt_facepalm]

Title: Steadies the Nerves
Author: capt_facepalm
Rating: PG
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (Gaslight)
Characters:Mr Sherlock Holmes,Dr John H. Watson
Summary: Holmes and Watson at an arson investigation
Warnings: Smoking is bad for your health
Word Count: 100
Author's Notes: July 3rd 2015 Picture prompt: A leaf superimposed with a death's head

.oOOo.

The reporters outnumbered the policemen at the burnt-out warehouse.

Watson had seen enough and withdrew from the grisly remains while I continued to make observations.

The next thing I heard was a commotion behind me.

Someone had fainted. I dismissed the distraction.

‘Weak stomach,’ a constable sniggered.

‘Thought a doctor would be made of sterner stuff,’ another added.

The hairs on the back of my neck bristled. Watson!

My fellow lodger twitched and struggled to breathe.

No one remembers who offered him the tainted cigarette, but had he taken a deeper draw, the Folium dilectus mortis would have killed him.

.oOOo.

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Comments

[debriswoman]

And it's only day three:-(
Still, there is an important health warning here:-p

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Besides the anti-smoking warning, there is also something about accepting candy from strangers.

[med_cat]

You're serious about the whump this time around, eh?

And making exciting botanical discoveries?

Have you seen the book on poison plants?

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Whump should always be taken seriously (especially in July). As for the botanicals, I am just making them up as I go.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

That's such an imaginative interpretation of the prompt. Though poor Watson ^^"

[reixilu.livejournal.com]

Well. Holy crap. Dang, Watson really is a trusting soul.

[med_cat]

Mhm

The book is this

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003I83EI6/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=BX18MCJX9MGP&coliid=I1X9G7B3GB1NLN

[methylviolet10b]

Now there's some July whump for certain. Love what you did here! (Dare I hope for a continuation?)

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I have heard that some criminals like to watch the police investigate their crimes.

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I imagine Watson being quite shaken by what he had just seen and was not paying attention when someone offered him a cigarette.

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'll set this one free in my plot bunny pasture and see how the rest of the month is going. I used to offer full fleshing-out of these drabbles as gift-fics for successful JWP completers. Sadly, there was never enough interest so I stopped offering.

[pompey01.livejournal.com]

O.O

Well. That was no-punches-pulled! (I like your name for the poison, btw, if not so much its effects on Watson.)

[ancalime8301]

Oops. Come now, Watson, you really ought to know better. :-p

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Dude, there's a reason they call those things 'coffin nails.'

[hagstrom]

I think Watson is in for a very serious scolding, as soon as he is able to breathe properly!

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks! ACD liked to invent is own poisons, so the precedent has been set. Need a drug to do something specifically nasty? No time for research? Artistic Licence and Google Translate to the rescue!

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yes, Watson should have known better, but then he did not expect treachery in the kind offer of a cigarette when he had been so obviously affected by the horrific sight.

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I am not a smoker, but the characters I love to write about are. It is something they enjoy and I try not to glamourise it in my writing.

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

The scolding will be epic! Thanks!

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Can't write about Gaslight-era Holmes without pulling out the tobacco tin, can you?

My favorite exchange on that subject was in The King's Speech:" "My doctors say smoking calms the nerves." "They're idiots." "They've all been knighted." "Makes it official, then."

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

I loved that passage from "The King's Speech".

As to Watson and tobacco, I imagine the following arc:

-Young Watson: enthusiastic social smoker
-Older Watson: following years of injuries and illnesses(largely occurring months of July), switches to cigarettes and reduces the amount he smokes
-Retired Watson: rarely smokes cigarettes but will indulge in the occasional cigar
-Recommissioned Major Watson: trades most of his cigarette rations for more vital things, and shares the rest with his men

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Watson: weans Holmes off cocaine because it's dangerous and addictive.

Watson: realises that he's been sticking a pipe in his face and gets shaky if he doesn't; thinks of all the heavy-smoking patients that cough like a whole TB ward.

Watson: "Holmes, it's time for you to repay the favour."

[capt-facepalm.livejournal.com]

That would work too. You should write it.

I think I will just have Watson become increasingly dissatisfied with smoking until a bit of mustard gas seals the deal.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Be sure to show how enraged Watson becomes when he sees the bowls of free cigarettes for soldiers in the hospitals...