The Other Wordly meme

[memeticisms]

The Other-Wordly Meme

Words are magical things; they can have so many lovely connotations and varied histories.
Words have family trees just like people. They are linked to each other.
Some words are full of flavor and color and describe things you never suspected there were words for.
Words are why we're here.

The meme is simple: post a comment with your muse's name and canon in the subject line.
List any preferences you may have ("No Shipping," "No Smut," etc.), if you decide to leave the next step up to responders.
Responders (or original posters, if they so decide), go to the Other-Wordly blog and hit 'Random' until you get a word. Use the word as a prompt to write up an RP scenario. Do this several times, if you like. Mix and match. Have fun with it!
Don't stop with a word, though! Words can often have etymologies that are at odds with their current meanings. Words can shift connotations over time. Let your imagination carry you with the words as its wind.

Comments

[formersurgeon]

She pulls back quickly. She wants to comfort him, and it frustrates her that she can't comfort him that way. She sits quietly for a couple long moments, considering him, before speaking again.

"You wouldn't have come here if you didn't think I could help you."

[routinemercy]

"I didn't know where else to go." The words are, naturally, muffled while in his current near-fetal position. He wonders, though: did he ever really think she could help him? Or was he simply running, forestalling the inevitable?

[formersurgeon]

"You did the right thing. I'm here for you."

She pauses, considering.

"Would you be able to tell me if your cravings started getting bad? If you started getting dangerous?"

[routinemercy]

"Joan." Hal's voice is quiet and resigned, and when he raises his head to look her in the eye, he looks tired, too. Every second of his age shows on his face. "I am a danger to you every moment that I am here."

[formersurgeon]

She swallows.

"I know." Her voice is quiet, raw, a little afraid, but not overcome. "But there are times when the urge is under control, and times when it's not. Right?"

[routinemercy]

"Yes," he concedes. "I... I had safeguards in place. Routine. It's what keeps me from slipping." Of course, nothing in the past weeks has been anything close to routine. Not with the arrival of the Old Ones, Cutler resurfacing, Leo and Pearl leaving him. And... and Alex.

"But it may not be enough. It may not be enough to keep him at bay. Especially now."

[formersurgeon]

"Him," she repeats softly. "You mean the person you are when you hurt people," she guesses. "Harry."

[routinemercy]

He doesn't need to nod; Joan understands already. But he can't help but give an involuntary shiver at the name.

"Sometimes I get an inkling... a feeling that he's coming," Hal explains. "And sometimes he seems to come out of nowhere. Sometimes there's nothing I can do. The only thing I know for certain, Joan, is that he's coming. Sooner or later. He always does."

And he's guessing, just guessing, that with what's going on in Wales and beyond right now, it's going to be sooner rather than later. Much sooner.

[formersurgeon]

"Then we need to work on refining your ability to predict those shifts. And we need to restrain you."

She says it with quiet confidence. She knows he's probably preternaturally strong. Sherlock still has enough at his disposal to hold him down.

[routinemercy]

"Of course," Hal murmurs quickly, and that he's not at all surprised or deterred by the idea of restraint probably speaks volumes alone. In truth, she is beginning to sound a lot like Leo. They never got the chance to see if Hal could mitigate or even merely prepare for his other self's arrival, however.

"Thank you."

[formersurgeon]

She gives him a faint smile in response to his thanks. "We're going to do whatever we can. I promise."

She takes her mug of tea, takes a careful sip.

"How are you feeling right now?"

[routinemercy]

"Honestly?" Hal hugs his knees even closer and fixes her with an incredulous stare.

"So on edge that it's as if I'm going to break apart. How should I feel?"

[formersurgeon]

She nods.

"I meant are you feeling like you need to be restrained," she clarifies gently.

[routinemercy]

He looks more than a bit chagrined. "Oh. Yes." Hal clears his throat. "I think that might be best."

[formersurgeon]

"We'll do that, then."

She stands up and heads for the stairs.

"Drink your tea. I'll be back in a minute."

[routinemercy]

Hal glances at the tea as if he's just realized it's there.

"All right."

When she gets back, though, he'll be organizing the cupboards, the tea still untouched.

[formersurgeon]

Jon returns with her arms full of a straitjacket, a leather strap, and ankle cuffs. She sees what he's doing and smiles a little.

"Not the best way to get in Sherlock's good graces."

[routinemercy]

He seems a little bewildered by that, swinging back around with a guilty expression on his face.

"Really? But I've sorted them by color and size," Hal protests. Honestly, who wouldn't want it that way? This Sherlock should be thanking him...

His eyes fall to the equipment Joan's carrying and he nods solemnly, switching gears.

"You're rather alarmingly well-prepared."

[formersurgeon]

"He can be touchy about how his things are laid out. You should have seen him the first time our housekeeper cleaned the living room and arranged all his books alphabetically by academic rigor."

She puts the contents of her arms onto the table, and takes up the straitjacket, shaking out the sleeves and checking the buckles.

"You should see the box that the cuffs came from. It's huge. Usually these are just for practice, so Sherlock ... and I, a little ... can escape if someone kidnaps us. The good part of that is that I know what's inescapable."

Satisfied with the jacket, she holds it so the open back is facing him.

"Ready?"

[routinemercy]

He hesitates, but only for a moment, and then he holds his arms out.

"Ready."

[formersurgeon]

She slides the jacket up over his arms, then moves behind him and starts buckling the straps. She's being precise but moving quickly, so that she's not in this close of contact any longer than she has to be.

Sorry! Emergency came up but things are good now!

[routinemercy]

He appreciates that, the minimal touching. He even helps out a bit, telling her she can tighten this or that, double-checking that the bonds hold the way they should.

No worries! I'm glad things are better!

[formersurgeon]

When the back of the jacket is buckled closed, she reaches around him to catch hold of the straps at the ends of his sleeves. One by one she draws them back, moving his arms around him in a tight self-hug, then secures them. She tugs at the straps, checking to make sure she's buckled them correct, then picks up the belt.

"Sherlock can escape a straitjacket," she says, passing the belt around his torso and arms right above his elbows. "But this would keep him from being able to move. It should also keep you from breaking out by force."

She buckles the belt firmly behind him.

"How does it feel?"

[routinemercy]

"Safer," he manages after a short pause. And somehow he drags his eyes up to meet Joan's. It strikes him that if Alex were watching, she would have considered this their second date, would probably be giving him a difficult time about it.

If Alex were alive...

"Ah--" The noise is strangled, cut off. Weak. "We'll need to secure the rest of my body to something as well."

Hal looks away again when he says this, guilt written clearly on his face.

[formersurgeon]

Their eyes meet and she offers him a faint smile, hoping it's reassuring, and muses on how they have a lot of trust in each other, even though this is only their second time together.

"We can do that. Here...come sit by the radiator."

She takes him by the arms to guide him over and then help him sit on the floor.