Fic: First Labour: Teen

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Title: First Labour
Rating: Teen
Length: 500
Notes: anacronistic language for the sake of a pun; Holmes/Watson; Retirement!lock; Reference to "The Lion's Mane" [alternate version]; reference to Greek mythology (the first labor of Hercules, slaying the Nemean Lion)
Summary: Holmes recounts one of his early cases.
Author's Note: for the monthy prompt: ruby


“Penny for your thoughts.”

Holmes smiled. “I’ve spoken of the Gloria Scott as well as the Musgrave business, Watson, but today I was reminded of another early case. In some ways a rather uninspired affair, a cousin in a spot of trouble, but a formidable adversary, Miss Ruby Leonidas.”

“American opera singer?”

“It’s forgotten that her career commenced here, Watson.  A majestic beauty with a golden mane, and when she opened her mouth,” he sighed, “she reigned, uncontested.” Homes closed his eyes. For a moment, his face took on a rapt expression.

“But she was a monster,” he declared when his eyes fluttered open. “Men sought her, naturally, but one-by-one, they met their doom. Penury, madness, death. Not unlike Charles Augustus Milverton in her method.”

“Blackmail?”

Holmes nodded.  “She feigned helplessness and when a knight came to her aid, nothing could sway her from making him her victim. Persuasion, bribery, even brute force, no weapon triumphed.”

“But, Holmes, what did you do?”

“She was an artist, so I struck at the only vulnerability:  her art. Like many artists, she was superstitious. I made myself a beggar woman and approached her one night as she was hurrying from stage door to carriage. I cursed her, loudly, saying her voice was mine, and that if she didn’t grant my wish, she’d never sing again.”

“And?”

“And the next day, I succeeded in substituting the wash with which she was known to gargle before every performance for my own special formula. It numbed her vocal apparatus enough that when she took to the stage she could no longer roar, only croak.”

“Holmes!”

“An understudy took the place of the star that night. When my golden-maned foe burst into the side street, snarling and gnashing her teeth, I was waiting, still in disguise. I said I’d rid her of her voice permanently, strangle her with my bare hands—from afar, by occult method, of course—if she didn’t return a certain letter and book passage to New York at once, never to return.  She glared at me for quite a while, then capitulated.  My cousin was saved, and the following night, Miss Ruby Leonidas gave her final performance on an English stage.” He tilted his head in contemplation, then added, “I believe It was the very first time I took justice into my own hands.”

“Goodness, Holmes, but, ah! I think I know what made you think of it. That singular business on the beach with the Cyanea capillata. The lion’s mane.”

“Indeed, that was one. And this,” he ran a hand along the old bearskin hearth rug, “though not a pelt skinned with a slain beast’s own claw, is two.”

“Is there a three?”  I queried.

His lips curled in a wicked grin, and he made a beckoning gesture.

I fell, once more, into his naked embrace as he said,

“I’d call this a Nemean lie-in.”

I howled with laughter. “My pawky humour is finally rubbing off on you, Holmes.”

“Among other things.”

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Good story and great pun.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[debriswoman]

Great to see your take on the first labour:-)
Neatly linked between cases ( and rugs)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I tried to connect case to myth in as many ways as possible.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

It's very Holmes that he was able to admire Miss Leonidas' beauty and talent but wasn't swayed by it - he saw her as she really was.

It's such an elegant reworking of the myth - 'the beggar woman' stealing her voice is so apt. And yes, applause for those final two puns ^____^

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you, thank you! I am glad you liked the puns. I thought the parallels to the myth worked rather good. We'll see if I can manage them all. Agatha Christie did it with Poirot, so I'm inspired to try.