London meet-up metafic: Death of a fanatic

[marysutherland]

BBC Sherlock

Rating: 12 (implicit slash, explicit weirdness)

Summary: Lots of people have been posting about what happened at the recent London Sherlock meetup. This is what didn't happen. Another metafic in sequel to warriorbot's Going Down With the Ship and my Captain of the Ship. This is crackier. It may even be meta-metafic, I've lost track.

Comments

Re: From an interested party

[marysutherland]

Dear I.P.

I’m terribly sorry, I appear to have been under a serious misapprehension. I am happy to confirm that the ‘Mycroft Holmes’ appearing in my stories is a completely fictional character, who exists only in the peculiar realm know as ‘fanon’. He bears no resemblance to anyone living. (This, incidentally, means that what I wrote is not libelous. You can’t libel people who don’t exist).

As I remember, now I think about it more clearly, when a group of us started writing RPF, one of us got stuck with a story, couldn’t work out how to get Sherlock out of a dangerous situation. And someone - it was probably Warriorbot, because she always comes up with the wackiest ideas - suggested we should have the Secret Service rescue him. And we were arguing about why the Secret Service might help Sherlock, and she - I’m sure it was ‘Bot, well, mostly sure - said it was because Sherlock’s brother was in charge of the Secret Service. So that’s how Sherlock having a brother was invented, which I suppose makes it not strictly RPF after all. (These things are hard to keep clear-cut).

Once we had this hypothetical brother - because Sherlock is clearly an only child, from his attitude - we had to imagine what he was like. I came up with ‘Mycroft’ for his first name, which I know is ridiculously implausible. I think it was some kind of obscure reference to ‘Microsoft’, on the grounds that he was everywhere, controlling all our computers.

And between us, as we wrote our stories, we worked out that ‘Mycroft’ must be older than Sherlock, so he’d have time to become so important. And that he’d be superficially like Sherlock: tall, dark, upper-class, well-dressed, charming, manipulative and terrifyingly intelligent. But we didn’t want to make him just Sherlock Mark II, so we agreed that, for example, since he’s a civil servant, he’d have a much more polished manner than Sherlock, and that he’d be a behind the scenes man, not rushing around having adventures. We gave him a few weaknesses as well - someone, perhaps it was Blooms84 - suggested we should imagine him as someone keen on food, as a nice contrast to Sherlock, who we read somewhere, doesn’t eat much.

So we had this handy character now, ‘Mycroft Holmes’ as a deus ex machine, a plot device, and most of the fanficcers left him at that, as someone to stick in for convenience into Sherlock/John or Sherlock/Lestrade RPFs. But some of us aren’t such fans of Sherlock himself,.even though we really go for Dr Watson or DI Lestrade. Maybe we’re a bit older, or keener on responsibility, or just not so hypnotised by good cheekbones. So we got to pretending: what if there was a real Mycroft Holmes, like the one we’d invented? Someone with Sherlock’s brilliance, but not his sociopathy? Someone who could actually behave, suffer, love like an adult, not the sulky child that Sherlock seems to be? (BTW, does he really behave like that all the time, do you happen to know? I ask since you seem to know the Holmes family a bit).

As I said, some of us ended up writing stories focused on ‘Mycroft Holmes’, making him the hero, not his brother. Because he came to seem more interesting, more appealing, more real even than Sherlock’s flashiness. But if you don’t think I should write that kind of story, well, I can always stop. Go back to writing jokey stuff about John and Sherlock and forget about ‘Mycroft’. If that’s what you really want.

Best wishes (I’d say ‘love’, but I don’t want any more misunderstandings)

MS

PS: Do you think you could please get my library cards working again? All my library cards? If I’m tucked up in the library doing my own research I won’t have time to write so much fanfic, which I’m sure will be best for us all. Please. PLEASE!

Re: From an interested party

[marysutherland]

MS
I salute your good taste and maturity in not being hypnotised by showy cheekbones, absurdly theatrical apparel, and irresponsible, childish behavior. I also suspect you have had some training in the law or politics--or logged many hours watching courtroom dramas--as you have crafted a subtle, yet powerful argument that has persuaded me that this "terrifyingly intelligent" and powerful brother is a useful character for your little stories. And certain members of the Holmes family (not named Mycroft, of course) need not worry about public or even friends-locked embarrassment in future.

Indeed, it seems your "Mycroft" can lend a certain gravitas and wisdom--as well as bringing a more mature, but no less magnetic charisma to the proceedings. Perhaps the "Mycroft" character may be seen as lifting these fictions from the realm of vulgar sex and violence to something of more redeeming social value. Although the occasional story featuring a--I believe the term is BAMF?-- incarnation of "Mycroft" wielding a sword and smiting enemies of the commonwealth might be interesting. Or perhaps fictional "Mycroft" occasionally engaging in tasteful sexual congress with the real-life Watson or Lestrade character (preferably not at the same time and with minimal moaning and profanity) could be intriguing.

Very best wishes to you as well, my dear. And warm regards,
I.P.
P.S.
Rest assured that I have made inquiries and appropriate threats to press the case for mending your library card situation. Let us admit, however, that librarians are a stubborn and surly lot--more intransigent than the Soviets in their heyday--so I am less optimistic about restoring your library privileges than I am about restoring order in Egypt right now. I have also dispatched a team to repair an imminent plumbing leak in your home. That should be taken care of before the day is done.