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mariana-oconnor · 5 months

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The Three Gables pt 2

A little late, because life and Christmas are just... it's a lot.

Last time we had a lady who wanted to sell her house and someone who really wanted to buy it and everything in it. Including the remaining possessions of her dead son. Who had died of pneumonia? I think, but also been involved with some sort of woman his mother did not approve of.

And a servant was fired after everyone was kind of terrible to her, even if she was spying for some bad guys.

And there was a lot of racism, which I expect will increase.

Anyway

"Now, Watson, this is a case for Langdale Pike, and I am going to see him now."

Ah, it's another randomly referenced character that it sounds like we should know and yet we do not. Unless I have forgotten him. I don't think I've forgotten him.

Langdale Pike was his human book of reference upon all matters of social scandal. This strange, languid creature spent his waking hours in the bow window of a St. James's Street club and was the receiving-station as well as the transmitter for all the gossip of the metropolis. He made, it was said, a four-figure income by the paragraphs which he contributed every week to the garbage papers which cater to an inquisitive public.

OMG, he's the paparazzi!

Well, the Edwardian equivalent of it.

Holmes, I thought better of you than this. You're really feeding this guy information. Ugh.

'Please come out at once. Client's house burgled in the night. Police in possession. — Sutro.' Holmes whistled. “The drama has come to a crisis, and quicker than I had expected."

Really? You must have known you sped up their timetable a little. They knew you'd gone to see the place and they were worried enough about you they tried to warn you off. It makes sense that seeing you there would move up their plans.

“Well, they don't seem to have got much. Mrs. Maberley was chloroformed and the house was— Ah! here is the lady herself.”

She was chloroformed and it's just an ordinary burglary? I hate to see what you call an odd burglary.

Just going to skip over the extra racism.

“Well, I don't think there is anything of value missing. I am sure there was nothing in my son's trunks.”

You hadn't even looked in them and Holmes told you that he thought there was something in them. Why are you so confident in this, lady?

"It is in my son's handwriting.” “Which means that it is not of much use,” said the inspector. “Now if it had been in the burglar's—” “Exactly,” said Holmes. “What rugged common sense!"

Please allow me to use my Holmes-English dictionary. I'll just check... yeah... Mmhm.

“I never pass anything, however trifling,” said he with some pomposity. “That is my advice to you, Mr. Holmes."

Oh, oh no. Oh poor boy. You are being set up for the biggest of falls. You have no genre savvy. I'm sorry. This will hurt.

“Seems to be the end of some queer novel, so far as I can see.”

Please, tell me more.

“Why should they go to my son's things?” asked Mrs. Maberley.

Clearly they wanted the manuscript of his magnum opus of homoerotic literature, Mrs Maberley. I can see no other possible reason.

And honestly, relatable.

"Man must live for something. If it is not for your embrace, my lady, then it shall surely be for your undoing and my complete revenge.”

🔥VENGEANCE!🔥

So it's not a homoerotic bodice ripper, at all. It's a tell-all memoir.

"I hear that she is about to marry the young Duke of Lomond, who might almost be her son."

Refreshing to see an older woman-younger man romance portrayed for once. Usually it's the older man preying on the sweet young ingenue. This time the sexual predator is the woman. Although... honestly, nothing that's been said so far makes me think she's doing anything but having a good time.

“Not at home means not at home to you,” said the footman.

RUDE!

The lady had come, I felt, to that time of life when even the proudest beauty finds the half light more welcome.

Also rude!

Come on, Watson. You're not exactly young yourself at this point. And you're still apparently marrying people left right and centre. Do you hide in the shadows?

Pah.

...two wonderful Spanish eyes which looked murder at us both.

I know what he means by this, but also I am imagining her irises being the Spanish flag.

Beautiful.

“I need not explain, madame. I have too much respect for your intelligence to do so—though I confess that intelligence has been surprisingly at fault of late.”

Holmes is in such a bitchy mood in this one. He's just insulting everyone as much as he can. I kind of love it.

"I feel that I may be frank with you, Mr. Holmes. You have the feelings of a gentleman. How quick a woman's instinct is to find it out. I will treat you as a friend.”

Wow...the bullshit is strong with this one.

“No doubt it was foolish of me to threaten a brave man like yourself.”

You should totally stroke his bicep and ask if he works out. That's clearly where this is heading. Lolol!

“No, no, you would not. You are a gentleman. It is a woman's secret.”

Wow. Just... wow. Weaponising femininity indeed.

✨ Gaslight. ✨ Gatekeep. ✨ Girlboss. ✨

So roguish and exquisite did she look as she stood before us with a challenging smile that I felt of all Holmes's criminals this was the one whom he would find it hardest to face. However, he was immune from sentiment.

That's because unlike you, he is not ruled by his horny brain, Watson. Please, take some deep breaths, drink a glass of cold water and come back when you've calmed down. You were literally just saying you thought she was too old to stand in proper lighting, my dude. Down boy!

"Because I had given he seemed to think that I still must give, and to him only. It was intolerable."

OK, fine. I'm on her side now. She's still the most ridiculous person ever, but this is a valid and correct point. Douglas needed to take no as an answer.

Barney and the boys drove him away, and were, I admit, a little rough in doing so.

I'm torn. On the one hand, Douglas needed to understand that just because his sense of entitlement told him she owed him something, he really didn't. On the other hand, don't hire people to beat people up. Maybe just hire bodyguards to keep turning him away and save the beating for if he escalates?

I feel like everyone sucks in this story.

This... this is the same story from Charles Augustus Milverton except the female character is rich and has agency. And yet we're supposed to not side with the people who stole back the blackmail material that would ruin her? Because she's promiscuous?

Yeah, she's kind of terrible, but her crime was getting people to beat him up. The theft seems fair, honestly.

“Very good. I think you will sign me a check for that, and I will see that it comes to Mrs. Maberley. You owe her a little change of air."

Yeah, she was chloroformed and it's possible that the beating led to her son's death. She definitely deserves something for all of this.

"Have a care! You can't play with edged tools forever without cutting those dainty hands.”

Weird line to end on, but okay. Basically 'fuck around and find out' in Holmes speak, I guess.

But yeah, this is just a different version of Charles Augustus Milverton and A Scandal in Bohemia only this time the lady is the bad guy. And she actually has done some horrible things. But if she'd come to you and said 'Mr Holmes, I had an ill advised dalliance with a young man and I need the evidence before it ruins my upcoming wedding!' Holmes might have done the burglary himself.

Well, probably not if he found out about her having Douglas beaten up.

But it's a weird change of perspective.

#Letters from Watson #The Three Gables #Sherlock Holmes #long post

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quillofspirit · 2 months

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Moria Terrain Inspo

Here is the promised Moria inspo!

I am quite happy with how this turned out, just creepy enough to make you wonder what lurks in the shadows...

And how perfect is that red glow??

From Top to Bottom, Left to Right

Rockside by Peng Yang

Aerial Mount Batur, Indonesia by Jaanus Jagomägi

Little Langdale, UK by Jonny Gios

Sunlight by Ivana Cajina

Cave entrance by Bradley Dunn

Basalt columns, Iceland by Jonathan Larson

Museum of Susch, Switzerland by Ricardo Gomez Angel

I may or may not have also finished the Mithlond Terrain Inspo 😁😁

#Moria #lotr #lord of the rings #terrain study #dwarves

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popculturegenealogy · 1 year

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A different type of family tree: Applying family history concepts to animation

"Modern Cartoon Family Tree 2.0" by AlexB9598w

This family tree is unlike any other tree I've seen before. I thought I'd do a fun one this week. It's not focused on a specific character or on the draw of family, the latter which I wrote about before. Instead, this shows the connection between people and their different shows. It all starts out with Donovan Cook and moves down from there. I think this tree is interesting in that it shows the connection between these shows. However it is also, you could say, limiting. I say that because it doesn't exactly focus on the interconnection between people. I know that, for instance, that Rebecca Sugar and Ian Jones-Quartey are married, but this chart only shows them as writers. Similarly, I know about the controversy which enveloped Twelve Forever, leading to the end of the show, and Shadi Petosky, a trans woman, becoming the executive producer of the show and having her own project on the way. Since I don't know most of these shows, I'm narrowing it down to the shows I do know and working back from there. Let's start with one of my favorite shows, Cleopatra in Space, and focusing on the executive producer of that show, Doug Langdale.

Reprinted from my Genealogy in Popular Culture WordPress blog. Originally published on August 28, 2020.

I then expanded this by looking at the companies behind each one of these productions, and it starts to look more like a bit of a tree, showing the parent companies and production companies. Keep in mind that Sony Pictures Television, as of 2002, owns both Columbia divisions, so the chart would look a little different now. Additionally, DreamWorks is now owned by Universal Pictures, a division of NBC Universal, which is, itself, owned by Comcast. So, the chart would look different today.

Now, I wanted to expand this a little more, so I originally wanted to look at all those who have been listed as being on the Cleopatra in Space crew (herein called Cleo Crew), apart from Doug Langdale. Since that was 40 people, I narrowed it down to storyboarders, which consisted of 18 people in total: Aaron Brewer, Abigail Davies, Adam Temple, Andrew Marshel, Bob Suarez, Chris Ybarra, Derek Thompson, Eugene Huang, Gary Ye, Ingrid Kan, Kevin Slawinski, Laurianne Uy, Samantha Suyi Lee, Scooter Tidwell, Thalia Tomlinson, Topher Parnell, and Wei Li. From there, I broke it down by the overlapping shows that they had worked on. [1] I ended up narrowing it down mainly to DreamWorks shows, as you'll see in the chart below:

We learn a lot from this. For one, Chris Ybarra and Bob Suarez had worked together and/or on two of the same shows: Big Mouth and Turbo Fast. Additionally, Adam Temple and Wei Li had both worked on Carmen Sandiego, while Abigail "Abby" Davies and Laur Uy had worked on Spirit Riding Free. We also find that Bob Suarez and Laur Uy worked on the same show too. Even more fascinating is the fact that ALL of these productions were on Netflix and most, apart from Carmen Sandiego, were tied to DreamWorks. We can conclude that many of the storyboarders probably knew each other and/or had worked with one another in the past. If we combine this with the information about Doug Langdale I showed earlier, it would mean that Langdale worked on the same team as Bob Suarez and Laur Uy on The Adventures of Puss and Boots. These connections were likely part of the reason they were hired in the first place.

In sum, this is a unique family tree of sorts, which shows connections between those in the animation industry. You can see who the "parents" (like DreamWorks and Houghton Mifflin) are and who the "children" (like Bob Suarez and Laur Uy) are as well. This sort of analysis is much better than the "modern cartoon family tree" shown at the beginning of that post. That post almost treats the connections between individuals as static. I may do another one about LGBTQ animations or something else. We'll see what happens! As always, comments are welcome, as I'm deeply unsure about what I'll write about next.

Notes

[1] I also found that Aaron Brewer and Eugene Huang storyboarded Little Big Awesome, which was produced by Amazon Studios and Titmouse, Inc., and that Aaron Brewer and Bob Suarez storyboarded Niko and the Sword of Light, produced by the same groups. Additionally, Frank Squillace directed Jackie Chan Adventures, while Scooter Tidwell was a storyboarder. At the same time, Bob Suarez, Frank Squillace, and Scooter Tidwell storyboarded The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Furthermore, Abigail Davies worked on Cartoon Network's Ben 10, with Scooter Tidwell as a sequence director. Finally, Frank Squillace directed Transformers: Rescue Bots while Thalia Tomlinson worked as an animator for the same show.

#animation #family trees #twelve forever #shadi petosky #rebecca sugar #ian jones quartey #cleopatra in space #doug langdale #dreamworks #comcast #nbc universal #the weekenders #storyboarders #spirit riding free #lgbtq #pop culture #reviews

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wikagirl · 1 year

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Allow me to introduce you to: Nug!

Name: Nug ( a term used in surfer-slang for a good wave, idk how commonly tho), will accept Nuggs or Nuggies as nickname

Age: this is a tricky one so lets break it down

their parts are anything between 10 years to just a few months off the conveyerbelt as they keep getting new parts and impovements to their physical body when ever Lahn can get his hands on something new

they have actually been online for -3 months, meaning that they come online three months after Lahn gets hired by Gabriella which is where their story starts for me

mentally they start out as a blank slate of machine learning but they take in information quickly and eagerly so give them about half a year and they will have the mental capacaty of what the book-selling industry would call a young adult

Height: without antenna 82cm, with antenna 102cm

Voice reference: Pascal Langdale as Bagley in Watch Dogs Legion

Nug is Lahns second attempt at having a self built little robot friend after the unfortunate and way too soon end of the first one.

Unlike the first one, which was a trahsed claptrap that Lahn fixed up and still ran on the basic claptrap software and all it's previous memories before being trashed, Nug is a mixed and matched jumble of different parts and robots. Their body is a fixed up and repainted mini-loaderbot that Lahn found in one of the many landfills of pandora, their head is a second hand purchased surveillance cam to replace their broken optic and due to weather-induced chorrosion of their motherboard and additional proccessors those also had to be taken out and replaced with stuff their crator got to joink from the B-quality products of their employer which also included the neat bonus of a grapplehook that has become outdated.

And badda bing badda boom, that's Nug.

Their new personality is more or less a blank slate, but equipped with machine learning to slowly built something unique to themself as they go. With most of their previous hyperion standart weaponary being lost to sitting on a landfill for ages and being very hard to find spares or replacements for they prefer to stay out of combat but are not afraid to pick up a gun and blast someone in the face if they have to, leaving most of the bloody work to their human guardians while they gather intel on their surroundings.

They have memorized the maps of areas they frequently go to, all the local wildlife and what it can do and even names, professions and ages as well as relations of the locals, allowing them to quickly notice even the most minor changes in their surroundings even before their human companions (but that doesn't mean they always know what to do with that inferomation).

They are naturally curious and very trusting, sometimes too trusting for their own good and they are aware of this which is why they have a tendency to surround themselves with people who would protect them in excahnge for them basicly being a free happy-chemicals dispenser simply by existing.

Random tidbits about them:

they chose their own name after like a month of being active, before that they just went by „lil buddy“ or what ever else their friends decided to call them.

they view fl4k as something like an elder, somebody of the same kind as them but older and wise and thus idolize them a lot

they choose to go by they/them with most other people

people close to them get to call them ve/ver because it feels more like their true self, however they are very scared of exposing their true self to people they don't consider very close, so those people also don't get to call them by their very close in personal pronouns

people that are allowed to address them as ve/ver include but are not limited to: Lahn, Lahns siblings, Gariella, Gabriellas parents and her twin brothers, Ellie (mechanic auntie), Fl4k (duh), Zer0 (their emotes make them seem more friendly than most humans). They haven't decided on zane, amara and moze yet because they find them very intimidating. They have considered Wainwright and Sir. Hammerlock but ultimately came to the conclusion that they don't know them enough (yet) and even though they consider claptrap like a sibling, they have yet to experience clappy refer to them as anything other than „you“ or minion so they don't really have an opinion on that one yet.

They platonically love everyone. EVERYONE. Yeah they may have just put a bullet betwen your eyesockets because you tried to dip them in a chorrosive barrel but they still love you.

Idk if you've noticed yet but this is literally pathfinder from apex but smol. You're not imagining things, I admit to my crimes.

LOVES the ocean and anything related to it, sports, creatures, anything. Sadly they are not water prove tho, meaning they will never be able to go for a swim. That won't stop them from watching hours worth of nature documentaries and collecting pretty shells in the sand tho.

Mermaids <3

The first emotion they ever felt was absolute terror when a spitter skag got a hold of them, violently shaking them around and tearing on their limbs as the acidic spit of the creature was eating away on their chassis. Not the nicest way to be shoved into being actually concious and sentient, but the negative emotion was quickly overshadowed by love and adoration when Grabriella came crashing in with her mace, turning the beast into bloody slush and hitting it about a dozen times more than she needed too while Lahn carefully surveyed the damage they suffered and began fixing them on the spot

has shrimp vision

will hug your leg if they feel like you're sad, then after about 10 seconds will ask if they're helping (if you answer anything but yes you will be connected to gods wifi)

will also hug your leg when scared, protec de baby

does the little happy feet tappytaps when excited and will clap their hands too if they get REALLY excited

Alwys makes for a very comedic situation when they say some really weird shit or attempt to threaten someone in their standart-cheery tone of voice, imagine discords text to speech option reading a ransom note. They can actually speak in different tones, but they simply choose not too.

is smol, therefore can only use pistols and maybe a small smg if they're lucky. They usually carry around only one or two weapons for self defence purposes anyways

would be obsessed with the idea of Vocaloid because that's a robot...a machine...a virtual thing that isn't even autonomous...but also an internationally adored and recognized popstar? Also a lot of the more upbeat Miku songs are about making connections and friends and....yeah, just yeah

use their grapple as a meeleweapon by releasing the cord it attaches to just enough to be able to weild it like a hatchet

Loves seabunnies and uses their binomial name (Jorunna Prava or J.Prava) as usernames on the echo net

some people shoot fingerguns, others toss up the metal horns and they will give you the shaka hand signal as a way of greeting or saying goodybe

Character theme: Tell your wold (eng ver) – jubyphonic battle anthem: CYBERPUNK - Omnia 5 songs they'd listen to:

METEOR – Divela ft. Hastune miku

Into yesterday – sugar ray

We are all one – world order

Beach bonfire – Sandro

Version 2.0 – Jordan Sweeto

Their gun loadout:

The patches and buttons on their backpack:

What they look like without their backpack and alternative outfits (details in picture description):

#Nug #borderlands #borderlands oc #originally I wanted to put their neopronouns up to with the name #but then one of my nb friends suggested to hide it in the other stuff #bc it's a private thing about nug that you'll only figure out if you get to know them well #my writing is erratic just like my thoughts #myart #I proofred all of this but I'm also dyslexic and sleepdeprives so *shrugs*#nug character sheet

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vox-anglosphere · 2 years

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The village of Little Langdale epitomises autumn in the Lake District

#Little Langdale #Lake District #Cumbria #English villages #Fall #English Lakes #autumn #picturesque #country road

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tindomielthings · 1 year

Video

adamjason1

Little Langdale, England

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crimsonscloud · 5 months

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#killjoys syfy #killjoysedit #my gifs #liam jelco #d'avin jaqobis #pascal langdale #luke macfarlane #kj 308 #these two and their banter <3 #also figured out text and recoloring the blue filter. go me #also the way jelco tilts his head at d'avin like “hi~” kills me #he's such a little shit to him specifically and d'avin is annoyed but goes with it for some reason #you know what they say; feed a queue starve a rebellion

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my-head-is-an-animal · 10 months

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The Sitter

Mycroft Holmes x Bethany Wheeler (OFC)

Story Masterlist

Chapter 10 - Background Check

It was a long few days where Mycroft was overseeing the doctoring of footage to cover for Sherlock’s actions. It wasn’t easy, but they eventually got there with a cover story to go with it, an itchy trigger finger from an over eager squaddie, that was the story they were running with. For the most part, no one would ever see the footage or have any reason to ask about Magnusson, but there always had to be a plan just in case.

Mycroft managed to get Sherlock into a meeting with himself Lady Smallwood and Sir Edwin to go over the new story, he knew Sherlock wouldn’t like it, but he didn’t have a choice, this was happening and he needed to deal with it like an adult.

‘What you’re about to see is classified beyond top secret,’ Mycroft began once everyone had settled. ‘Is that quite clear? Don’t minute any of this.’ He said, seeing Vivienne about to take notes. ‘Once beyond these walls, you must never speak of it. A D-notice has been slapped on the entire incident. Only those within this room, codenames Antarctica, Langdale, Porlock and Love will ever know the whole truth. As far as anyone else is concerned, going to the Prime Minister and way beyond, Charles Augustus- Are you tweeting?’ He exclaimed, catching a glimpse of Sherlock’s phone.

‘No.’ Sherlock said, trying to hide his phone.

‘Well, that’s what it looks like!’

‘Of course, I’m not tweeting, why would I be tweeting?’

‘Give me that.’ Mycroft said, going in to grab the phone from Sherlock’s hand.

‘What? No.’

There was a minor scrap, but Mycroft came out victorious, letting out an exasperated sigh as he looked at what Sherlock had been doing.

‘Back on terra firm…’

‘Don’t read it out.’ Sherlock rolled his eyes.

‘Free as a bird.’

‘God, you’re such a spoil sport.’

‘Will you take this matter seriously, Sherlock!’ Mycroft demanded.

‘I am taking it seriously, what makes you think I’m not taking it seriously?’

‘Hashtag oh what a beautiful morning.’

‘Look, not so long ago, I was on a mission that meant certain death, my death and now I’m back in a nice, warm office with my big brother- are those ginger nuts?’ Sherlock was suddenly distracted and it only led to Mycroft rolling his eyes and sighing in frustration.

‘Oh god.’

‘Love ginger nuts!

‘Our doctors said you were clean.’ Lady Smallwood said as Sherlock grabbed a handful of biscuits.

‘I am, utterly. No need for stimulants now, remember? I have work to do.’

‘You’re high as a kite.’ Sir Edwin scoffed.

‘Natural high, I assure you.’ Sherlock said, taking a bite out of his biscuit. ‘I’m just… glad to be alive!’ He sang a little dramatically and even Mycroft was suddenly unsure whether the doctors had gotten it right. ‘What shall we do next? What’s your name?’ He suddenly spotted Vivienne.

‘Vivienne.’ She said, nervously, wondering if she should even have spoken at all.

‘What would you do Vivienne?’

‘I’m sorry?’

‘It’s a beautiful day, what would you do? Go for a stroll? Make a paper aeroplane? Have an ice lolly?’

‘Oh… ice lolly, I suppose.’

‘Ice lolly it is! What’s your favourite?’

‘Oh really, I shouldn’t-‘

‘Go on.’ Sherlock was starting to exasperate everyone.

‘Do they still do Mivvies?’

‘Mr Holmes.’ Lady Smallwood cut through everyone.

‘Yes.’ Both Mycroft and Sherlock answered at the same time.

‘We do need to get on.’ Lady Smallwood warned.

‘Yes, of course.’ Mycroft nodded, apologetically. He played the footage of Magnusson appearing to get shot by someone else, not Sherlock.

‘I see.’ Sherlock said, having calmed down a little. ‘Who is supposed to have shot him then?’

‘An over eager squaddie with an itchy trigger finger, that’s who.’

‘That’s not what happened at all.’ Sherlock disapproved, but this was the way out.

‘It is now.’ Mycroft told him.

‘Remarkable.’ Lady Smallwood said, staring at the doctored footage. ‘How did you do it?’

‘We have some very talented people working here.’ Sir Edwin seemed rather proud of his lie. ‘If James Moriarty can hack every TV screen in the land, rest assured we have the tech to doctor a bit of security footage. That is now the official version, the version anyone we want to will see.’

‘No need to go to the trouble of some sort of official pardon. It seems you’re off the hook, Mr Holmes.’ Lady Smallwood said, annoyed at everything the same as Mycroft who folded his arms and waited for a thanks from his little brother. ‘You’re home and dry.’

‘Okay, cheers.’ Sherlock said, getting up to put his coat on and leave.

‘Obviously there’s unfinished business. Moriarty.’ There was a new tension in the room.

‘I told you, Moriarty’s dead.’ Sherlock said with a mouthful of biscuit, Mycroft wished he could just show a little respect.

‘You say he filmed that video message before he died?’

‘Yes.’

‘You also say you know what he’s going to do next? What does that mean?’

‘Perhaps,’ Sir Edwin cut in. ‘That’s all there is to it. Perhaps he’s just trying to frighten you.’

‘No, no, he would never be that disappointing.’ Sherlock shook his head, thinking. ‘He’s planned something, something long term. Something that would take effect if he never made it off that rooftop.’ Mycroft just watched him curiously, something ticking away in the back of his mind, something he really didn’t want to think about. ‘Posthumous revenge. No, better than that. Posthumous game.’

‘We brought you back to deal with this.’ Lady Smallwood was fed up of playing games. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘Wait.’

‘Wait?’

‘Of course, wait. I’m the target. Target’s wait.’ Sherlock went to leave the room. ‘Look, whatever’s coming, whatever he’s got lined up, I’ll know when it begins. I always know when the game is on. You know why?’

‘Why?’ Lady Smallwood rolled her eyes.

‘Because I love it.’ Sherlock said leaving, making Mycroft roll his eyes again and allowed Sherlock to go.

‘He’d better be right, Mycroft.’

It was Lady Smallwood’s final warning before Mycroft left the room to return to work. He was annoyed that he couldn’t even get a simple thanks from Sherlock for all the trouble he caused, but he honestly wasn’t sure what he expected.

In the following few weeks he regularly checked in with Sherlock, finding out if he’d made any progress with Moriarty, but all he’d been doing was solving cases. Mycroft instead turned his attention to Bethany, he got regular updates on her progress at school, exams were just around the corner and she was looking at placements within a few institutions he was closely connected to.

‘Sir,’ Anthea walked into his office with an odd spring in her step. Mycroft frowned as she placed a file down on his desk. ‘Thought you might want to see this.’

When he opened the file, he was surprised to find that one of his colleagues, Scott Mathieson, was looking at a list of graduates, Bethany’s name was on the list. Mycroft frowned slightly, this was research into biological gene therapy, Bethany’s speciality was chemistry based science. He nodded to Anthea and listened to his assistant leaving.

According to the file, Mathieson was keen to take Bethany under his wing and offer her a placement in her third year with the potential to fund her masters and PhD and offer her a job. How had Mycroft not noticed how good she was in school?

Your name has appeared in a file on my desk. – MH

What? What do you mean? I’ve been at John and Mary’s helping with the baby, she’s due in a couple of days, I haven’t been running around with Sherlock for ages. – BW

Mycroft chuckled at her sudden panic.

Not Sherlock, though glad to hear you’ve been keeping out of trouble, especially with the Moriarty business. No, it came up in a file with a list of names for me to do background checks on before being considered for placement or work at Dr Scott Mathieson’s lab. – MH

Jesus Mycroft! You scared me half to death! I thought someone might have been after me. I didn’t realise it was just a bloody background check! – BW

If there’s anything you’d like to confess to, now is the time. – MH

Oh, I’m sure there’s plenty I could confess to, but nothing that would stop me being put on placement. – BW

You have me intrigued. – MH

I’m sure I do. – BW

Mycroft smiled down at his phone, he contemplated asking her a follow up question, but decided against it.

What kind of information comes up in a background check? – BW

Mycroft frowned, not sure why she was asking.

Yours won’t be that extensive unless we find something of note. We’ll look at the basics, family history, education, any recent events that make you ineligible to work within any co-operations that have a close connection the British government and anything that may make you susceptible to blackmail or taking bribes in the future. Why? – MH

It was a while before she answered and it didn’t make Mycroft sit particularly comfortably.

My mum was a doctor who went to Africa to help children who needed medicine and vaccines. She wanted to help them live without fear that other people’s children could be affected by the lack of basic needs like food and clean water. My father was a lecturer at Cambridge, he taught Engineering, he specialised in Aerospace engineering, I have no idea the depth of the projects he was involved with, but he did a lot of work with NASA in his spare time. They’ve never been poor, but always made sure to teach me how to earn my money and not expect it. I went to a public school, got decent enough grades, never anything exceptional, but I studied Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Mathematics and Music at A level. I suppose recent incidents would only involve Sherlock and I’m fairly certain you’re not going to hold any of it against me. I went travelling with my parents before coming back home to get my degree, my mum was stationed in Kenya, I went there for a couple of years and then to my dad in America, I didn’t like the people he worked with so only spent eight months there, before returning to England and finding a place to live with some friends. Oh, and Wheeler is my mother’s maiden name, my real last name is Colbeck, that’s what I was born with anyway, I’m sure when you do your check, it’ll become obvious why I changed it to Wheeler. I know you’re going to find all this stuff out and probably more, but I feel like you should hear some of those things from me personally, because they are personal. – BW

Mycroft took a moment to assess the information she had provided. The more prominent detail was that of her last name, why would she not go by the name she was born with? Colbeck was a familiar name to Mycroft, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything.

Thank you for telling me. I can understand why you felt it important. And no, anything involving Sherlock will not be held against you, I can assure you. You studied music? Seems like an out of place choice for a scientist. – MH

I suppose it does. It was enjoyable though. – BW

Mycroft wondered if there was any more to that statement than she was letting on, but suddenly the image of her hand tracing over his in the back of his car jumped to mind. Her fingers were long and slender, like that of a pianist. It suddenly occurred to him that there was a lot he didn’t know about her.

Pianist? – MH

Indeed. – BW

There was something nice about her confirmation, something cheeky and playful.

Perhaps, if you find the time, we could go to dinner again and you could save me a background check. There’s quite a few I need to get through these days. – MH

If you have so much to do, wouldn’t an evening spent working be more productive than an evening spent indulging in my small talk? – BW

Perhaps, but that would depend entirely on the agenda. – MH

And what exactly is your agenda, Mr Holmes? – BW

Mycroft suddenly realised he was staring down at his phone, flirting. If anyone walked in on him at that moment, they would surely know he was distracted and not getting on with work.

Let me know if you have an evening free. – MH

He left it there and she didn’t message him back. Mycroft wondered if he should have continued down this path at all, but for the first time in his life, he was being made happy by another human being and one that seemed to be more interested in him than his brother.

Mycroft heard about Mary giving birth and the christening but had yet to hear from Bethany. She had gone to the christening because Sherlock had seen fit to send him a picture of her and Molly posing together. She wore a white dress with green and yellow flowered pattern and a cream suit jacket rolled up to her elbows. She was again, stunning.

Mycroft never replied to his brother when he sent photos, he didn’t feel the need, but he was grateful nonetheless that Sherlock went to the trouble making sure he was kept up to date.

It was another couple of months and Mycroft had done his background checks on the list, finding nothing of note and wondering if Bethany just didn’t want to go to dinner with him. It hurt a little, but soon found out from Sherlock that she had been working most evenings and when she wasn’t working, she was either in the labs doing workshops, writing essays until the morning hours or with Mrs Hudson in the café. Plain and simple, she just didn’t have time.

‘Mycroft.’ Lady Smallwood said as she rounded the corner of a corridor Mycroft often found himself walking down, he suspected she wasn’t there by chance.

‘Lady Smallwood.’ He nodded curtly.

‘Those background checks for Mathieson, find anything of note?’ She asked, he knew where this was going a mile off and he’d prepared an answer.

‘If you’re referring to Miss Wheeler-‘

‘Miss Wheeler? I thought it came up that her name was in fact Colbeck?’

‘It did, but Wheeler is the name she has chosen to go by and the one she has legally changed it to.’ Mycroft explained. ‘Colbeck was her birth name and Wheeler is her mother’s maiden name, hardly a reason to dismiss her as a candidate. And before you ask, I was in possession of that information long before the background check became necessary.’

‘She’s a bloody student Mycroft!’ Lady Smallwood hissed.

‘I am aware.’

‘It’s not appropriate for you to be seen socialising with a student,’ she warned a little quieter. ‘If the press get a hold of this, they will have a field day. She’s barely an adult.’

‘Miss Wheeler is twenty-seven years old, we employ many graduates below that age and hardly treat them as children...’ Mycroft was in no mood to be warned. ‘She made me aware of her given name some time ago and eluded to the fact that she changed it for a reason. Dr Richard Colbeck, her father and Dr Kathleen Colbeck, her mother, are fine examples of what this country is capable of and two people whose names literally open doors. I can imagine the pressure of being the daughter of such respected scholars is difficult enough for her to deal with, let alone rumours flying about her personal life. Which, I should point out, is all but existent. Miss Wheeler currently works part time at a hotel in Mayfair as a waitress and a café in Baker Street, in between working she studies, so please tell me what time she could possibly devote to anything else?’

Lady Smallwood didn’t seem to be any calmer. ‘You told me it was a business dinner, that she specialised in chemistry.’

‘She does,’ Mycroft shot back. ‘Though from what I hear, she’s thinking about forensic research as a possible career choice along with gene therapy and several other pathways available to her.’

‘Why did you really have dinner with her that night?’ She cut straight to the point and Mycroft hadn’t anticipated the response, but it did seem like she was jealous, maybe Bethany was right.

‘Fine.’ Mycroft said, looking down and giving into what she really wanted. ‘We were catching up. Miss Wheeler is also a friend of my brother’s and I wanted to ensure that all parties were safe and non-threatening to each other. Miss Wheeler is not aware of that fact.’

‘So, what did she think it was? A date?’

‘Of course not,’ Mycroft defended. ‘I told her I wanted to catch up. Her conclusion from that statement is unknown to me.’

Lady Smallwood didn’t seem at all convinced. ‘For Christ’s sake, Mycroft. Look, if you’re seeing this girl-‘

‘Lady Smallwood,’ Mycroft chuckled. ‘What time do you think I have for a personal life? Particularly one that involves a woman whose parents can make our lives difficult on a whim. I am not “seeing her” as you so poetically put it, but you may consider her under my protection. That should be enough for you.’

Mycroft didn’t bother saying anything else, he could see he made his point clear, but it only put him in a foul mood. Part of him wished he could answer yes, but that presented its own problems and he wasn’t ready to deal with that just yet.

He worked hard over the next couple of weeks, receiving the odd text from Sherlock and one that made his heart skip a couple of beats.

Exams are nearly done! Just one more to go and I’ll be home and dry. Sorry it’s been ages, I just didn’t want to get distracted, I also figured if you’re doing background checks on me, it’s probably not best to be seen having dinner. I’m not sure if that was clear or even the right decision, but if you still want to, I’ll be free from Saturday onwards. Last exam is Friday afternoon. Let me know. – BW

Mycroft sat back at his desk and ran his hands over his face. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. What did he say? He couldn’t risk being seen with her since Lady Smallwood had pointed out the problem the press posed, but he also couldn’t say no.

I will work out the details and let you know. – MH

It was all he could say. It wasn’t a lie, but he felt awful for saying.

‘Sir?’ Anthea called from his door. ‘It’s your brother.’ Mycroft sighed and took a few seconds to prepare himself.

Sherlock came barging in and handed him a phone, presumably with what was John and Mary’s baby, but he offered no explanation beyond that. He started talking about a broken bust of Margaret Thatcher and somehow it started to make sense, but not quickly enough for his liking.

‘I met her once.’ Mycroft said, remembering the moment well.

‘Thatcher?’ Sherlock asked, pacing.

‘Rather arrogant, I thought.’

‘You thought that?’

‘I know.’ Mycroft chuckled. ‘Why am I looking at this?’ He indicated the phone.

‘That’s her, John and Mary’s baby.’

‘Oh, I see, yes. Looks very… fully functioning.’

‘Is that really the best you can do?’

‘Sorry, I’ve never been very good with them.’

‘Babies?’

‘Humans.’ Mycroft smiled, handing back the phone.

‘Beth will be so disappointed.’

‘Why?’

‘She’s been working hard at school, didn’t you hear? Nearly finished her exams, well on her way to getting the top grades and is now babysitting when she can.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘She’s good with the baby. She likes children.’

‘Her mother worked with children, it’s no surprise. But why would she be disappointed?’

‘I have no idea, I just wanted to see if you’d dwell on the subject.’

‘Sherlock.’ Mycroft sighed, half in warning.

‘Moriarty. Did he have any connection with Thatcher? Any interest in her?’

‘Why on earth would he?’’ It seemed an odd question.

‘I don’t know, you tell me.’

Mycroft sniffed and leaned over the Moriarty file that he’d been looking at before Sherlock’s arrival. ‘In the last year of his life, James Moriarty was involved with four political assassinations, over seventy assorted robberies and terrorist attacks, including a chemical weapons factory in North Korea, and had latterly shown some interest in tracking down the Black Pearl of the Borgias, which is still missing, by the way, in case you feel like applying yourself to something practical.’

‘It’s a pearl, get another one.’ Sherlock snapped, making Mycroft roll his eyes. ‘Something important about this. I’m sure, maybe it’s Moriarty. Maybe it’s not. But something’s coming.’

Mycroft whilst mildly amused by his brother’s antics, was slightly concerned that he was investing himself in something that may turn out to be nothing. ‘Are you having a premonition, brother mine?’

‘The world is woven from billions of lives, every strand crossing over every other. What we call premonitions is just movement of the web. If you could attenuate to every strand of quivering data, the future would be entirely calculable, as inevitable as mathematics.’

‘Appointment in Samarra.’ Mycroft finally figured out where this was going.

‘I’m sorry?’

‘The merchant who can’t outrun death,’ Mycroft went on. ‘You always hated that story as a child. Less keen on predestination back then.’

‘I’m not sure I like it now.’

‘You wrote your own version as I remember. Appointment in Sumatra. The merchant goes to a different city and is perfectly fine.’

‘Good night Mycroft.’ Sherlock grabbed his coat to leave.

‘Then he becomes a pirate for some reason.’

‘Keep me informed.’

‘Of what?’

‘Absolutely no idea.’

And with that, Sherlock was gone. Mycroft wasn’t exactly sure what he was to make of his brother’s appearance, but he did look over the Moriarty case file just in case he’d missed something. Nothing jumped out at him, but then he didn’t expect anything to.

He thought more and more on Bethany, he wanted to see her, just talk to her, but he wasn’t sure dinner was the best idea. He decided instead to phone her late on Saturday evening once her exams were finished.

‘Mycroft, hi.’ She didn’t answer with her usual cheery tone.

‘Everything alright?’ He asked, taking a sip from his scotch and observing the fire in front of him.

‘Yeah, it’s fine, it’s just those guys in the house down the road. They just…’ she took a breath and cleared her throat. ‘Never mind. How are you? Is this a social call or am I in trouble?’

‘I wanted to congratulate you on finishing your exams.’ He said, not being convinced by her tone.

‘Oh thanks,’ that was better, a slight lift. ‘Yeah, I finished the last one yesterday, no idea how I did, but I feel pretty confident so maybe it’s fine. It’s just a waiting game now.’

There was an awkward pause between them. ‘Are you sure you’re alright?’ Mycroft asked.

Bethany let a long breath go. ‘You don’t need to worry, everything’s fine. What about you? It’s been a while since we last talked properly, what’s been going on? Any secrets you’d like to share?’

Mycroft took another sip of scotch. ‘Oh yes, are you sitting comfortably? I’ll just run through the list of state secrets I’ve uncovered today.’

‘Great, let me just grab some wine.’ She chuckled and Mycroft felt his heart lift some more. He loved that sound. ‘So, come on then, my background check, you want to talk about it?’

‘Why would I?’

‘I don’t know, because I told you my name was Wheeler when I was born Colbeck?’

‘Yes, but you legally changed it to Wheeler and you took the opportunity to tell me that before I even started the check.’ Mycroft explained. ‘What more is there to talk about?’

Bethany again paused. ‘So, you’re not upset that I didn’t tell you in the beginning?’

‘It never came up and I can’t imagine it would stay that way forever, so why would I be upset?’

He listened to her chuckling away a little more confused than anything. ‘I’m sorry, you’re right, it was a stupid question.’

‘Not at all.’ Mycroft suddenly had a thought. ‘Is that why you prefer to be called Bethany?’

‘Beth, if I can ever convince you to call me that, but yeah, partly that, partly…’ she stopped and he could hear her moving around, was she in bed? ‘Look, I know that my parents are these amazing people, but they spent their childhoods living in poverty, they worked hard to get to where they are, they’re principled and hard working people. I didn’t want to get anywhere just because I’m their daughter. It’s too much pressure, you know?’

Mycroft was simply hypnotised listening to her speak. ‘I can imagine.’ He said taking another drink. ‘We should have dinner again, when you get your results. We should celebrate.’

‘Do you think that’s a good idea?’

‘Why wouldn’t it be?’

‘Because if you know who I really am, others will know as well and people might start to talk.’

‘Why would that affect us having dinner?’ Mycroft had asked the question before he could stop himself.

‘Okay, look I just don’t want to cause any trouble for you,’ she said it as plainly as she could. ‘Lady Smallwood seemed really annoyed when she came to the table last time and I don’t want your life to be made anymore difficult.’

‘You shouldn’t worry so much about that,’ Mycroft finished his scotch. ‘If I thought it would cause any hassle I wouldn’t ask. Perhaps we don’t go out for dinner, we could watch another film? Or something else?’ Mycroft knew he was making a hash of things. He was messing up everything.

‘Okay.’ Bethany said, finally. ‘I’ll think about it.’

‘Good.’ Mycroft nodded. ‘Let me know.’

‘I will.’ He could hear her smiling and it made him happy. Maybe he could make this work. ‘Goodnight Mycroft.’

‘Goodnight Bethany.’ He said and hung up.

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