Very interesting how the mind works, how mysterious & wonderful. Great story.

Cool.

Wonderful story, really captivating and the way you wrote John; incredible.

Beautifully written story. It is especially poignant to me as I had similar, though far lesser, issues with vocalizing growing up. As I read I kept thinking, "Yeah, I remember that feeling."

And in the 40 minutes or so I've been staring at the review box a book of praises to your writing has composed itself in my head and dissolved before it could reach my fingertips.

You shanghaied me. I suppose I should be furious with you for that-get stolen away one too many times and you begin to get this uneasy sense of Stockholm Syndrome creeping up around the edges of your headcanon-but it was too overwhelmingly good for me to be anything but delighted with you. Of the AUs I've read (to be fair, that is not many, though I've heard of all the common ones) this has the distinction of being both entirely original (as far as I know) as well as fascinating. Fascinating in how much a single thing can change (it's not subtle, but it's not so heavy-handed as utter dumbness would have been), fascinating because the quotes are gorgeous. Final, silly notes: A) I enjoyed the fact that you placed your apostrophe after the s, correctly. B) He had to return home right way -I'm assuming that was a typo? He had to return home right away? It's not a big bother but I thought you might want to know.

Anyways.

Thank you.

This is unspeakably gorgeous! What an amazing idea; however did you come up with it? The quotes you used were just beautiful.

odd but strangely captivating.

I'm not even sure where to begin, or if I should even attempt at reviewing your story. You are so eloquent, spinning out a story with every word. This was a beautiful AU. I love how you really characterised John by making him the same and yet different from his original form. This John speaks with the same body language as usual, but everything he quotes holds meaning. In a way, it is still extremely similar to usual John, but this version takes it to the extreme; shows what it would be like for him to be unable to express himself simply. But the fact that he feels no remorse for the way he thinks; the fact that John does not see himself as wrong is wonderful. I loved Sherlock and Mycroft in this; it seemed like both of them were supporting John in their own way. This was incredibly written. Thank you for this story.

I love it. What an interesting concept.

Woah. I really liked it. This is extremely well written and I enjoyed it from the start. I love how it's clear that the issue isn't that John is unintelligent -that isn't the case at all, he's just only able to express his thoughts through quotes. Great idea.

'The truth of the matter was that it took quite some time for the Watsons to figure it out. Harry talked constantly, about everything. Birds, trees, colours, clothes- everything that popped into her head flowed out of her mouth. She spent one summer insisting that tadpoles were in the sewage system and desperately needed to be rescued and, during one memorable event, tried to get down a sewer drain to collect them. And so Mr. and Mrs. Watson, both kind but worn in a way that all parents who have excitable children are, failed to notice that John, sweet, kind, quiet John, was...well, far too quiet.'

This opening was fantastic. You painted such a wonderful emotive evokative picture. Fantastic. Pulled me right into the story.

'It was a cruel thing to say, but, like with all things that children say, rang with a brutal honesty that cut to the heart of the problem, which was that Mrs. Watson was beginning to fear the same thing.'

I love how you paint Harry in this story, it feels so very canon even though this is so very AU. Love it.

'It took some time for his mother to unfreeze, which was rather silly in his estimation because after all, he had finally done what she asked. Eventually, his mother slowly took off her apron and fetched a jar of honey and the already finished toast and set them down in front of him. She stared. He grinned. Words, it turned out, were magic.'

Amazing. This was great section John's frustration, his mothers fear, and finally a road to success. Just wonderful.

'Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Dull." He moved to pull away, flicked his eyes down to John's wrist when John did not immediately let go, and paused. "Oh." A sort of light came on, a brilliant flash that lit up his eyes and John found himself desperately wanting to know what caused it. "Not dull. Not dull at all."'

Your twist on thier introduction is fantastic. Loved it. :)

"Translating from one language to another, unless it is from Greek and Latin, the queens of all languages, is like looking at Flemish tapestries from the wrong side, for although the figures are visible, they are covered by threads that obscure them, and cannot be seen with the smoothness and colour of the right side."
He recognized the quote. In direct opposition to every other relationship he had been in, Sherlock was trying to talk to him in his own language. He searched for a word to describe the feeling that was spreading through his limbs, but not a single one fit.'

Seriously emotional and wonderful and the story is so captivating.

'John sat and stared at the blinking cursor, curled his hands, and then ever-so-slowly, tentatively typed:
When I first met Sherlock, he told me my life story.'

Holy WOW! This was amazing. I could have quoted the entire story every line. This was beyond wonderful. INtersting, emotional, captivating, and yet so very in character. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

Rairakku

Wow. That was quite beautiful. The way that John uses literary quotes to explain himself really clearly shows that he is both very intelligent and unable to express his thoughts- that was my favorite part. It was actually amazing how spot on Sherlock and Mycroft were, and that's no easy feat. Kudos and lovely job.