Holmestice | Winter 2019: Edited & Received

Alert readers will note the nonstandard form of the post title; my contribution to this round's Holmestice collection was, let's say, decidedly non-standard even by the sometimes unusual conventions of Holmestice.

The Apprentice's Beekeeper by Gray Cardinal
Fandoms: Mary Russell - Laurie R. King, Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes & Mary Russell
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, Mary Russell, Leslie Klinger
Words: ~3000
Additional Tags: Meta, Edited By, Don't Examine This Too Closely, Too Weird For Words

This is a genuine plutonium-plated bombshell. Unless, that is, it's a forgery. And it's not the story you were originally going to get, either.

The short version: Evidently, one of the pre-eminent Sherlockian scholars of modern times may have been looking into an unusual theory as to how Mary Russell might still be alive and well and active on Twitter...thereby prompting Russell's husband to step in and make his presence felt. (Which is possibly an unfortunate choice of words, given one of the other stories in this round's collection....) And somehow, yours truly ended up in the middle.

Meanwhile, the story written for me is very nearly as unusual, featuring (albeit mostly in absentia) one of my favorite Professor Moriarty versions:

The Adventure of the Missing Moriarty by writemore
Fandoms: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Words: ~3600
Characters: Geordi La Forge, Data (Star Trek), Regina Bartholomew

"A letter for you, Captain," Yeoman Albright said, offering a paper package.

"A letter?" LaForge scoffed.

"It was left in your ready room. With a knife driven through it. I have already sent the repair request."

 

And it gets more intriguing from there (with bonus Ferengi logic and a highly appropriate stealth crossover).

There is much other fascinating work in the round as a whole, including an extremely entertaining Muppet!Holmes case, a visit to the Russian ladies of "My Dearly Beloved Detective", the Werewolf of the Baskervilles, and an anonymous commenter leaving feedback via limerick (and the very occasional haiku).