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holmes_minorLength: 500
Rating: Teen for slight innuendo [note the version I'm posting to AO3 has a second naughty half which is Mature]
Content Notes: Alternate First Meeting, Scarlet Pimpernell-esque; mostly dialogue
Summary: Holmes is left at the crossroads in his drawers.
Author's Notes: For the May prompt: Ne'er cast a clout til May be out. And this prompt from Georgian suggestions.
“…it was an effective treatment, sir, that you chose to pour it into your ear instead of ingest is a deficiency on your part.”
“You are the worst doctor in London!” bellowed the man before he stormed out of the consulting room, pressing a woolly mass to the side of his head.
A tentative voice called from the makeshift waiting room.
“Doctor?”
“Yes, Violet, you may leave. I expect that was the last of the lot for the day.”
The bell on the door jangled once, then twice.
“Hello?”
“Doctor…Watson?”
“Yes, please come through. Oh. Well, what seems to be the trouble?”
“I’ve a cold in the chest.”
“Do come in. Have a seat. When did the symptoms commence?”
“Four days ago. I was traveling to London by private coach with my client, Lord St. Simon.”
“Client?”
“I am a professional problem-solver, not unlike yourself, Doctor. May I?”
“Yes, please, I’ll need to listen to your lungs.”
“Of course. Our coach was stopped along the road and beset by masked bandits.”
“Indeed! You were fortunate to have escaped with only a cold, Mister…”
“Holmes. Sherlock Holmes.”
“Breathe, please. Again. Again.”
“The gang was not violent, but they carried off everything of value, including our clothes.”
“Dear me!”
“Left us shivering in our drawers at the crossroads, in fact.”
“Goodness! What a wicked world! I would advise a liniment applied twice a day. Shall I do the first application here?”
“Most kind, Doctor. The leader of the gang caught my attention.”
“Oh, yes? How’s that?”
“Quite good, but a bit more vigour would not be unwelcome.”
“I shall have to roll up my sleeves, then.”
“As you wish. The leader of the gang was obviously a physician, and Army surgeon, to be precise, recently returned from service abroad. Doctor?”
“How on earth did you guess that?!”
“No guessing required. Despite his black silk mask, the way he held himself gave away his military training. The way he tied rope gave away his profession. His suntan gave away his former environs. His new clothes were from London, and his lip bore traces of an adhesive used in theatre circles for applying a false moustache, which I presumed he wore to disguise his identity when he wasn’t about his nefarious business. I can’t blame him. The dreary life of a small, unprofitable medical practice can’t hold a candle to the glamour of highway robbery.”
“A very generous attitude.”
“I understand what it is to take extreme measures to remedy the boredom of life. But he helped himself to my penknife, a gift from my grandmother which she’d once used to slit the throat of Barbary pirate, and I advised him in no uncertain terms that I would reclaim it one day.”
“Here 'tis. I'd like to hear more about this grandmother.”
“Thank you very much. And so you shall. When a doctor goes wrong, he is the first of criminals, but I have a proposal for you to mend your ways.”
“I’m listening.”
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no subject
Date: 2018-05-19 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-05-19 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-05-19 08:06 pm (UTC)And I love the use of the canon silk mask and the final canon quotation. I'm also very taken with the idea that this Doctor Watson has a fake moustache.
It's an inspired alternate first meeting ^__^
no subject
Date: 2018-05-19 08:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-05-20 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-05-20 08:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-05-20 07:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-05-20 08:12 am (UTC)