Richard Book is Innocent (
oxfordtweed) wrote in
crack_van2012-03-03 12:17 pm
Entry tags:
Fandom Overview: Sherlock (BBC) - Series 2
Hello! My name is Zed, and I'll be showing you some various Sherlock Holmes fics this month. But first, I'd like to take a moment to get you acquainted with some new aspects of the fandom. I'm sure you've already seen
cloudtrader's lovely overview, but a lot has changed since 2010, so let's take a few moments to get everyone up to speed. If you're new and would prefer to remain un-spoiled, you may want to go read that overview first, because this one is going to be rife with spoilers (whereas that one is largely spoiler-free). Some of the characters really can't be explained at all without giving their game away.

Characters
As I said above the cut, there have been many new developments in the latest four-and-a-half hours of the show. And what an amazing four-and-a-half hours it has been. First, let's reacquaint ourselves with the characters, and get to know some of the new ones. I won't go too in-depth with some of them, as they've already been covered once before, but I'll try to get all of the new information.
Sherlock and John
(Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman)
Together they solve crimes, John blogs about them, and Sherlock forgets his pants. Don't hold out too much hope for maturity with these two.
Not a whole lot has changed since series 1. John has been made a bit more sweary, probably because the show in general has become a bit more confident, and he still wears absolutely terrible jumpers. He's also had what appears to be the world's worst luck when it comes to dating (no thanks to Sherlock) since his break-up with Sarah, and will give his full attention to anyone wearing a skirt.
We've learned some things about Sherlock as well. For one, he appears to have fallen off the wagon, having what John refers to as 'danger nights.' There's also this mysterious 'sock index' he apparently keeps, and apparently he wanted to be a pirate when he was a boy. He can also (much to everyone's surprise) drive, apparently. Although Mark Gatiss has admitted that he wasn't originally supposed to know how, but circumstances involving Freeman actually not knowing how rather forced them to change this little character detail for Sherlock. A common assumption is that Sherlock can drive, just maybe not very legally.
Jim Moriarty
(Andrew Scott)
Jim shows up in four of the six episodes and one teensy little clip on John's blog. He has lines in only three episodes. These scenes form in total barely over fifteen minutes of screen time from Mr Scott. And yet, Jim is one of the scariest and most effective mofos out there right now.
People who like him really like him. People who don't like him tend to hate him. Because we see so little of him, what fandom knows about him is basically a series of wild mass guesses. What we do know about him can be summed up as so: He's Irish, completely unhinged, dangerous as all hell, and very good at what he does. And what he does is spin a web of lies and deception, which he uses to practically rule the criminal world.
Richard Brook
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And that is exactly what Jim does through Richard Brook. He does it so well, in fact, that for a few seconds the audience even believes it. And there's plenty of evidence to back up this fake identity, right down to a 'permanent' role on BBC 1'sCasualty Emergency, and DVD releases of a children's show, which Brook hosts. No-one quite knows how Jim pulled all this off, but the effect is glorious.
Mycroft Holmes
(Mark Gatiss)
Sherlock's older brother, Mycroft can be called many things: The British government, the CIA, nosy, a fat git... In fact, when we're introduced to him, he even calls himself Sherlock's arch enemy. We don't really know much about him still, when it comes down to it. He's very much a person in a position of high power, and whatever that is, it's almost certainly something in Whitehall (Word of God has even said that if Mycroft became the Prime Minister, it would be a step down from whatever position within the government he holds).
It's generally accepted that despite all their quarrelling, Sherlock and Mycroft are very close. He's also commonly paired with Greg Lestrade, and occasionally Antheia. Oh, right. Who's Antheia? That would be his fabulous assistant in ASiP, who's never without her BlackBerry and always (at least in that episode) close at hand. A common bit of fanon you'll find for her is prosopagnosia, or an inability to recognise faces. I'm not sure who started this, or when, but it features in quite a few stories out there as an explanation for some of the stranger things she does in ASiP.
Irene Adler
(Lara Pulver)
Oh, Irene Adler. The Woman. You will either love her, or you'll be very ragey at her. It's possible to be both, but also a bit confusing. If you're familiar with ACD canon, you sort of have to forget everything you know about her. If you're not familiar with ACD canon, she's the woman who beat Sherlock Holmes (OK, this isn't entirely accurate; everyone forgets about Norbury). An opera singer from New Jersey, Ms Adler was in possession of a very damning photograph, which a certain king wanted back, on account of all the problems it could cause. Holmes went after it, failed, and Adler got away and ran off with her new husband, Godfrey Norton.
Well, there's no Godfrey Norton anymore. Although there is a Kate. At least, I think that's the role Kate is supposed to play? Maybe? Does anyone know if these two are actually a couple, because I still can't tell. Anyway, Irene is now a dominatrix with photographs of a certain nameless royal person, probably in cahoots with Jim Moriarty beyond just needing help from him, and at first glance, suddenly English (except she uses American punctuation in her texts, so maybe not. Who knows?).
Oh, yes. She also no longer wins, which is the most annoying bit of all.
DI Greg Lestrade
(Rupert Graves)
Greg is, despite his sort of side role in the books, a main character in this show, appearing in five of the six episodes so far. He may or may not be good at football and have five children, although fandom likes to believe that both of these are true for him. Greg (who, up until Hounds of Baskerville, had no first name, although everyone somehow still knew it was Greg), is the DI who seems to also double as Sherlock's keeper within the Scotland Yard. He has a team that seems to consist entirely of DS Sally Donovan and SOCO Anderson, whatever the hell his first name is (Sylvia, if Mark Gatiss' Twitter is to be believed).
Like Mycroft, there's not a whole lot about him that we do actually know. He's known Sherlock for five years, and may or may not have helped him get clean, but that's just a wild mass guess.
In addition to being paired off with Mycroft, he's recently seen a lot of pairing with Molly Hooper, almost entirely owing to the ridiculous faces he makes at her in ASiB. And they are rather cute together, it must be said.
Henry Knight
(Russell Tovey)
In what many people regard as an hilarious example of meta-casting, we bring you Russell Tovey as Henry Knight, who is not as original a character as his name might suggest. You probably know him better as Henry Baskerville, who finds himself haunted by a giant spectral hound. Because of the way the story was updated to fit the modern setting the name of the family was changed, but don't let that put you off the episode because it's done rather brilliantly.
Henry, true to the original story, still finds himself haunted by a giant spectral hound, and has done ever since seeing his father killed by one out on the moors while he was a lad. Now, twenty years on, he's gone to Sherlock for help after finding gigantic footprints at the spot where his father was killed.
Needless to say, Henry is a complete paranoid wreck.
Kitty Riley
(Katherine Parkinson)
Another important character that we know next to nothing about. Kitty is a journalist who, in trying to get an exclusive, corners Sherlock in a bathroom during Jim's trial, only Sherlock forgets about these things called manners, and basically just treats her like he does everyone else and dismisses her. It seems like that's all we're going to hear from her until she comes home to find Sherlock and John having broken into her flat. Oh yeah, and she also may be working with Jim Moriarty? No-one's really sure! Either that, or Jim's fake story was also sort of real, because she should have noticed otherwise.
Some people fancy her as Seb Moran's sister. I'm not sure how common this is outside Team Jim though. Either way, it sort of works.
Molly Hooper
(Loo Brealey)
Molly is amazing. She is likely the first and only woman to break up with Jim Moriarty and live to tell about it. She's a forensic pathologist at St Barts, and has an amazing crush on Sherlock, which seems to make her awkward and insecure whenever he's anywhere near her. She likes pink things and kittens, both of which she decorated her blog with when it was still going.
She probably helped Sherlock fake his death in Reichenbach, and fandom seems to like the idea that she's somehow connected with Jim, beyond just having gone on three Glee-filled (yep. She watched Glee with the most dangerous man in England) dates with him.
Sherlock/Molly's something of a dark horse ship, because there's really no way in which it could ever function. But that doesn't stop some people from loving it. You'll also occasionally see her paired off with John, but not often.
Mrs Hudson
(Una Stubbs)
Mrs Hudson is also amazing, and you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't like her. And Sherlock says it best. Without her, England would fall. She's more or less adopted Sherlock and John by the time the second series rolls around, and while she puts up with thumbs in the fridge, she's no push-over. She serves tea to hitmen, tells off the police, and outsmarts CIA agents.
She's another one that, when it comes down to it, we don't really know a whole lot about. We know she owns Baker Street and can't seem to get anyone to live in 221C, and that's about it. Like about half of these people, she doesn't even have a proper name. Just Mrs Hudson (fandom tends to fancy Martha, but even then, it's not brought up often). Fandom also likes her to have been something of a wild child before settling down with her husband, who may or may not have been executed in Florida.
Whatever the case, she's very clearly fond of Sherlock, despite the holes he puts in the walls.
Sebastian Moran
(No idea!)
Despite having not actually appeared at all in this show, he does show up in fic quite frequently. Especially in fic featuring Jim. But I've included a screencap, so what is that supposed to mean? Well, if the sniper in the stairwell is not Seb Moran, I will eat my hat.
Allow me to explain. In the original stories, Doyle killed off Holmes because he was bored with him. And then he needed to pay some bills, and since fans wouldn't shut up about Sherlock Holmes, Doyle brought him back declaring that Holmes never actually died, but was chasing/being chased by this bastard for the three years he was gone. Sebastian Moran is Moriarty's right-hand man, a skilled sniper, and convenient plot device. But none of this stops fans from loving him.
Seb is often paired with Jim, most commonly in situations that seem to be mutually-abusive, both mentally and physically. Every now and then you'll find an exception to this, often playing on the generally-accepted fandom rules for these two whilst at the same time knocking everything on its ear. I plan on reccing at least one of these this month, because Jim did sort of accidentally become my favourite after series 2.
#IbelieveinSherlockHolmes
Doctor Who fans are already well familiar with the power of a simple word or phrase tacked up in random locations. Similar to the BAD WOLF meme, #IbelieveinSherlockHolmes (or occasionally with spaces in the appropriate places) has led Sherlock fans to plaster their schools and neighbourhoods with information on Sherlock, imploring people not to believe Moriarty's lies.
Of course, Jim's fans were not going to take this lying down, and #RichardBrookisInnocent sprang up as a counter campaign, imploring people not to believe Sherlock's lies.
As well as these, other phrases to look out for include Watson's Warriors, Moriarty was Real, Sherlock Holmes was a Fraud, and the Devil Wears Westwood.
While these started out as a Tumblr thing, you'll likely see references to these campaigns popping up in fic and artwork.
Episode Titles and Codes
There are only six episodes, five of which are retellings of at least one canon story. As the fandom likes to shorten the titles, here's a handy guide for knowing what the hell people are talking about.
Popular ships and pairings
I was going to make a list, and then I realised that I was just listing off everyone with everyone else. Basically, yeah. Expect that sort of thing. Especially with the kinkmeme being huge, everyone's been paired off with everyone else.
Other things of importance
AKA, stuff you'll see referenced a lot. Particularly with the whole Reichenbach thing, expect to see quite a lot of references to the Empty House (which is where Holmes came back after three years of being 'dead' and Watson rather spectacularly fainted). Sherlock also frequently retires to Sussex to keep bees, will occasionally have a dog called Gladstone, and John frequently marries a woman called Mary Morstan. Sherlock also seems to like to nick off with John's clothes (something which, along with Gladstone, come from the Ritchie!verse).
You may also spot the occasional reference to someone called Victor Trevor, who was Holmes' first friend. They met in University after Trevor's dog took a chunk out of Holmes. BBC has Seb Wilkes, who apparently hated Sherlock in uni.
John has two friends who are occasionally referenced as well: Mike Stamford and Bill Murray (no, not that Bill Murray). He went to uni with Stamford and was in Afghanistan with Murray, both of whom are direct references to characters in a Study in Scarlet.
Places to go:
All of the caps on this page can be found at Aithine.org (don't worry; I didn't hotlink anything). This is a wonderful resource for, well, screencaps.
As I said above the cut, there have been many new developments in the latest four-and-a-half hours of the show. And what an amazing four-and-a-half hours it has been. First, let's reacquaint ourselves with the characters, and get to know some of the new ones. I won't go too in-depth with some of them, as they've already been covered once before, but I'll try to get all of the new information.
Sherlock and John(Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman)
Together they solve crimes, John blogs about them, and Sherlock forgets his pants. Don't hold out too much hope for maturity with these two.
Not a whole lot has changed since series 1. John has been made a bit more sweary, probably because the show in general has become a bit more confident, and he still wears absolutely terrible jumpers. He's also had what appears to be the world's worst luck when it comes to dating (no thanks to Sherlock) since his break-up with Sarah, and will give his full attention to anyone wearing a skirt.
We've learned some things about Sherlock as well. For one, he appears to have fallen off the wagon, having what John refers to as 'danger nights.' There's also this mysterious 'sock index' he apparently keeps, and apparently he wanted to be a pirate when he was a boy. He can also (much to everyone's surprise) drive, apparently. Although Mark Gatiss has admitted that he wasn't originally supposed to know how, but circumstances involving Freeman actually not knowing how rather forced them to change this little character detail for Sherlock. A common assumption is that Sherlock can drive, just maybe not very legally.
Jim Moriarty(Andrew Scott)
Jim shows up in four of the six episodes and one teensy little clip on John's blog. He has lines in only three episodes. These scenes form in total barely over fifteen minutes of screen time from Mr Scott. And yet, Jim is one of the scariest and most effective mofos out there right now.
People who like him really like him. People who don't like him tend to hate him. Because we see so little of him, what fandom knows about him is basically a series of wild mass guesses. What we do know about him can be summed up as so: He's Irish, completely unhinged, dangerous as all hell, and very good at what he does. And what he does is spin a web of lies and deception, which he uses to practically rule the criminal world.
Richard Brook
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And that is exactly what Jim does through Richard Brook. He does it so well, in fact, that for a few seconds the audience even believes it. And there's plenty of evidence to back up this fake identity, right down to a 'permanent' role on BBC 1's
Mycroft Holmes(Mark Gatiss)
Sherlock's older brother, Mycroft can be called many things: The British government, the CIA, nosy, a fat git... In fact, when we're introduced to him, he even calls himself Sherlock's arch enemy. We don't really know much about him still, when it comes down to it. He's very much a person in a position of high power, and whatever that is, it's almost certainly something in Whitehall (Word of God has even said that if Mycroft became the Prime Minister, it would be a step down from whatever position within the government he holds).
It's generally accepted that despite all their quarrelling, Sherlock and Mycroft are very close. He's also commonly paired with Greg Lestrade, and occasionally Antheia. Oh, right. Who's Antheia? That would be his fabulous assistant in ASiP, who's never without her BlackBerry and always (at least in that episode) close at hand. A common bit of fanon you'll find for her is prosopagnosia, or an inability to recognise faces. I'm not sure who started this, or when, but it features in quite a few stories out there as an explanation for some of the stranger things she does in ASiP.
Irene Adler(Lara Pulver)
Oh, Irene Adler. The Woman. You will either love her, or you'll be very ragey at her. It's possible to be both, but also a bit confusing. If you're familiar with ACD canon, you sort of have to forget everything you know about her. If you're not familiar with ACD canon, she's the woman who beat Sherlock Holmes (OK, this isn't entirely accurate; everyone forgets about Norbury). An opera singer from New Jersey, Ms Adler was in possession of a very damning photograph, which a certain king wanted back, on account of all the problems it could cause. Holmes went after it, failed, and Adler got away and ran off with her new husband, Godfrey Norton.
Well, there's no Godfrey Norton anymore. Although there is a Kate. At least, I think that's the role Kate is supposed to play? Maybe? Does anyone know if these two are actually a couple, because I still can't tell. Anyway, Irene is now a dominatrix with photographs of a certain nameless royal person, probably in cahoots with Jim Moriarty beyond just needing help from him, and at first glance, suddenly English (except she uses American punctuation in her texts, so maybe not. Who knows?).
Oh, yes. She also no longer wins, which is the most annoying bit of all.
DI Greg Lestrade(Rupert Graves)
Greg is, despite his sort of side role in the books, a main character in this show, appearing in five of the six episodes so far. He may or may not be good at football and have five children, although fandom likes to believe that both of these are true for him. Greg (who, up until Hounds of Baskerville, had no first name, although everyone somehow still knew it was Greg), is the DI who seems to also double as Sherlock's keeper within the Scotland Yard. He has a team that seems to consist entirely of DS Sally Donovan and SOCO Anderson, whatever the hell his first name is (Sylvia, if Mark Gatiss' Twitter is to be believed).
Like Mycroft, there's not a whole lot about him that we do actually know. He's known Sherlock for five years, and may or may not have helped him get clean, but that's just a wild mass guess.
In addition to being paired off with Mycroft, he's recently seen a lot of pairing with Molly Hooper, almost entirely owing to the ridiculous faces he makes at her in ASiB. And they are rather cute together, it must be said.
Henry Knight(Russell Tovey)
In what many people regard as an hilarious example of meta-casting, we bring you Russell Tovey as Henry Knight, who is not as original a character as his name might suggest. You probably know him better as Henry Baskerville, who finds himself haunted by a giant spectral hound. Because of the way the story was updated to fit the modern setting the name of the family was changed, but don't let that put you off the episode because it's done rather brilliantly.
Henry, true to the original story, still finds himself haunted by a giant spectral hound, and has done ever since seeing his father killed by one out on the moors while he was a lad. Now, twenty years on, he's gone to Sherlock for help after finding gigantic footprints at the spot where his father was killed.
Needless to say, Henry is a complete paranoid wreck.
Kitty Riley(Katherine Parkinson)
Another important character that we know next to nothing about. Kitty is a journalist who, in trying to get an exclusive, corners Sherlock in a bathroom during Jim's trial, only Sherlock forgets about these things called manners, and basically just treats her like he does everyone else and dismisses her. It seems like that's all we're going to hear from her until she comes home to find Sherlock and John having broken into her flat. Oh yeah, and she also may be working with Jim Moriarty? No-one's really sure! Either that, or Jim's fake story was also sort of real, because she should have noticed otherwise.
Some people fancy her as Seb Moran's sister. I'm not sure how common this is outside Team Jim though. Either way, it sort of works.
Molly Hooper(Loo Brealey)
Molly is amazing. She is likely the first and only woman to break up with Jim Moriarty and live to tell about it. She's a forensic pathologist at St Barts, and has an amazing crush on Sherlock, which seems to make her awkward and insecure whenever he's anywhere near her. She likes pink things and kittens, both of which she decorated her blog with when it was still going.
She probably helped Sherlock fake his death in Reichenbach, and fandom seems to like the idea that she's somehow connected with Jim, beyond just having gone on three Glee-filled (yep. She watched Glee with the most dangerous man in England) dates with him.
Sherlock/Molly's something of a dark horse ship, because there's really no way in which it could ever function. But that doesn't stop some people from loving it. You'll also occasionally see her paired off with John, but not often.
Mrs Hudson(Una Stubbs)
Mrs Hudson is also amazing, and you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't like her. And Sherlock says it best. Without her, England would fall. She's more or less adopted Sherlock and John by the time the second series rolls around, and while she puts up with thumbs in the fridge, she's no push-over. She serves tea to hitmen, tells off the police, and outsmarts CIA agents.
She's another one that, when it comes down to it, we don't really know a whole lot about. We know she owns Baker Street and can't seem to get anyone to live in 221C, and that's about it. Like about half of these people, she doesn't even have a proper name. Just Mrs Hudson (fandom tends to fancy Martha, but even then, it's not brought up often). Fandom also likes her to have been something of a wild child before settling down with her husband, who may or may not have been executed in Florida.
Whatever the case, she's very clearly fond of Sherlock, despite the holes he puts in the walls.
Sebastian Moran(No idea!)
Despite having not actually appeared at all in this show, he does show up in fic quite frequently. Especially in fic featuring Jim. But I've included a screencap, so what is that supposed to mean? Well, if the sniper in the stairwell is not Seb Moran, I will eat my hat.
Allow me to explain. In the original stories, Doyle killed off Holmes because he was bored with him. And then he needed to pay some bills, and since fans wouldn't shut up about Sherlock Holmes, Doyle brought him back declaring that Holmes never actually died, but was chasing/being chased by this bastard for the three years he was gone. Sebastian Moran is Moriarty's right-hand man, a skilled sniper, and convenient plot device. But none of this stops fans from loving him.
Seb is often paired with Jim, most commonly in situations that seem to be mutually-abusive, both mentally and physically. Every now and then you'll find an exception to this, often playing on the generally-accepted fandom rules for these two whilst at the same time knocking everything on its ear. I plan on reccing at least one of these this month, because Jim did sort of accidentally become my favourite after series 2.
#IbelieveinSherlockHolmes
Doctor Who fans are already well familiar with the power of a simple word or phrase tacked up in random locations. Similar to the BAD WOLF meme, #IbelieveinSherlockHolmes (or occasionally with spaces in the appropriate places) has led Sherlock fans to plaster their schools and neighbourhoods with information on Sherlock, imploring people not to believe Moriarty's lies.Of course, Jim's fans were not going to take this lying down, and #RichardBrookisInnocent sprang up as a counter campaign, imploring people not to believe Sherlock's lies.
As well as these, other phrases to look out for include Watson's Warriors, Moriarty was Real, Sherlock Holmes was a Fraud, and the Devil Wears Westwood.
While these started out as a Tumblr thing, you'll likely see references to these campaigns popping up in fic and artwork.
Episode Titles and Codes
There are only six episodes, five of which are retellings of at least one canon story. As the fandom likes to shorten the titles, here's a handy guide for knowing what the hell people are talking about.
- A Study in Pink - ASiP - adaptation of A Study in Scarlet
- The Blind Banker - TBB - Original story
- The Great Game - TGG - adaptation (sort of) of The Adventure of the Bruce Partington Plans, and the Five Orange Pips, as well as a lot of original stuff. Originally also thought to double as The Final Problem.
- A Scandal in Belgravia - ASiB, or Scandal - adaptation of A Scandal in Bohemia
- The Hounds of Baskerville - THoB or Hounds - adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles
- The Reichenbach Fall - TRF or Reichenbach - adaptation of The Final Problem
Popular ships and pairings
I was going to make a list, and then I realised that I was just listing off everyone with everyone else. Basically, yeah. Expect that sort of thing. Especially with the kinkmeme being huge, everyone's been paired off with everyone else.
Other things of importance
AKA, stuff you'll see referenced a lot. Particularly with the whole Reichenbach thing, expect to see quite a lot of references to the Empty House (which is where Holmes came back after three years of being 'dead' and Watson rather spectacularly fainted). Sherlock also frequently retires to Sussex to keep bees, will occasionally have a dog called Gladstone, and John frequently marries a woman called Mary Morstan. Sherlock also seems to like to nick off with John's clothes (something which, along with Gladstone, come from the Ritchie!verse).
You may also spot the occasional reference to someone called Victor Trevor, who was Holmes' first friend. They met in University after Trevor's dog took a chunk out of Holmes. BBC has Seb Wilkes, who apparently hated Sherlock in uni.
John has two friends who are occasionally referenced as well: Mike Stamford and Bill Murray (no, not that Bill Murray). He went to uni with Stamford and was in Afghanistan with Murray, both of whom are direct references to characters in a Study in Scarlet.
Places to go:
All of the caps on this page can be found at Aithine.org (don't worry; I didn't hotlink anything). This is a wonderful resource for, well, screencaps.
-
sherlockbbc - Main comm on LJ. -
sherlockbbc - Main comm on DW -
sherlockbbc_fic - The kinkmeme. It's become a bit tricky to navigate as of late, thanks to LJ's recent code tweaks, but there should be a sticky post happening soon that has all the links to all the things - John's Blog - Ostensibly part of canon, but at the same time, defies canon like you wouldn't believe. It's good for extra little details, but don't rely on it for dates or specific information. Because it seems to get a lot of stuff wrong.
- The Science of Deduction - Sherlock's site. From which he quite epically flounced after being told that no-one reads it.

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And while all the ships have happened, I'm pretty sure one could make a case for the main pairing being Sherlock/John. ;)
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Can't wait for the recs, thank you so much!
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And I'm always excited to find another Jim fan!
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THAT'S what that is?! I saw a post-it note of that stuck on a brick wall outside where I work! Wow. Fandom, you are everywhere.
Thank you for the lovely write-up. I just ventured into this fandom and do not see myself venturing out anytime soon. :)