"Bohemian Rhapsody" (Sherlock Holmes, "A Study in Crimson" Pirate AU), rated PG-13

[gardnerhill]

Title: Bohemian Rhapsody
Author: gardnerhill
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (“Study in Crimson” Pirate AU)
Word Count: 1510
Rating: PG-13 (violence and gore)
Warning: Violence, death, blood, brutality, mayhem. Or as pirates call it, “Saturday night.”
Summary: We meet someone only talked about before.
Author's Notes: Because it would be wrong of me to let

Comments

[capt_facepalm]

I was secretly hoping that you had something (other than a hook) up your sleeve for International Speak Like a Pirate Day!

Finally we get to meet The Woman and she is formidable. It is nice that she is working for Moriarty when we meet her because it echoes well with the BBC-verse situation. I suspect her plan that once she receives her Letter of Marque she will go on her merry, plundering way. Whether Moriarty will play nice with her is questionable, but no doubt she has a solution for that as well. The threat to Jack is woeful indeed. The Adder has misread the clues and she has no idea of Jack's devotion to his ship and his captain, nor the depths of Shear-Lock's regard for his ship's sawbones. I look forward to reading how the inevitable standoff between Holmes and Adler plays out in your "A Study in Crimson" universe. Please do not make us wait for a whole year.

(Since your AU was first given berth at Watsons_Woes, I suspect that all your subsequent chapters will find safe harbours there.)

[gardnerhill]

Harr, there be depths in these waters, Cap'n. I may not have been showing me colors for a long stretch, but 'tis only to reinforce the superstructure.

Personally, I love The Woman's 'do - that's a solution to white people who grab black women's hair!

Yeah, Irene is chaotic evil, as opposed to Moriarty's Neutral Evil - it's like trying to train a tiger to pull your chariot. And as usually happens in a story that spreads around, the wrong image emerges - won't be long before Dr. Jack has become a 20-foot-tall fire-breathing gold-handed pirate-slayer stalking the seas looking for his lost hand like a phantom.

Sorry for the delay - funny how work and real life and other things to write make the year go away.

[only_po]

HA! Well done! :D I love Irene as a character but it breaks my heart that she's working for Moriarty. (But from a storyteller's pov, it's good to have characters aren't 100% lovable or hatable.) Excellent hairstyle as well -- are those razor blades or cat o'nine tail hooks or what?

I rather think she's in for a surprise should she actually meet the fabled El Manodoro! (Incidentally, is her name really Irene or is that just the Anglicized version?)

As for the Bakers, I wonder who those sailors and cabin boy were, and why them specifically. Obviously Shear-lock is gearing up for war . . . but I also keep hearkening back to the very first installation you posted. In short, I'm very intrigued and even more convinced that should you wish to, you could make a full novel out of this!

[gardnerhill]

Well, Moriarty THINKS that he controls her 100%... Like most pirates, she's simply aiming for the most profitable situation - getting paid twice for one raid (once in keeping the plunder, and again by Moriarty for services rendered) is hard to say no to.

And those are razor shards woven into The Adder's dreadlocks - a foolproof way to cure white people of the bad habit of grabbing black people's hair.

She'll be disappointed to find that her pirate-killer is a mere surgeon, but will be happy to have him on board to stitch her boys up and cut off their limbs - with or without Shear-Lock's permission.

I haven't decided on her actual name - so far I'm sticking with The Woman, The Adder, and Cap'n. We know who she is!

As for the story about the Gloriana's run-in with the Baker, involving the two sailors and the cabin boy, that's at this chapter of "Rache" - sadly, it's been too long since I've updated the main story.

[tripleransom]

I thought about you when I heard it was talk like a pirate day and here you are!

Shiver me timbers, a wonderful new chapter it is. I'm glad you are having so much fun with this, because so am I.

[gardnerhill]

Arr, too long a time careening the hull methinks.

Thankee, squire, I did love making The Woman into a truly fearsome buccaneer. (And that's one solution to white people who grab at and touch black women's hair!)

[tripleransom]

Urk. Do people really do that? The morons deserve to have their fingers sliced, then.

Aye, she's a fearsome creature indeed. But I should think flies would be a problem in the Caribbean what with the blood in the hair and all.

[gardnerhill]

I saw a white woman grab a black woman's braids in an elevator at work, less than a year ago. Google "white people touching black people's hair" and check it out - it is most definitely a racial microaggression.

Flies? They'll have to fight the mosquitoes to the death. (Actually, most of the red in The Adder's dreadlocks is cochineal dye - blood wouldn't stay red for long.)

[stellinia]

New installation, YUSS! And we get to see the adder! She's... scary. I wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley - no, wait, I don't want to meet her at all. You seem to be foreshadowing at what's to come, like the sneaky person you are. A confrontation between Jack and the Adder? *Squee!* Can't wait!

[gardnerhill]

Thankee, lass!

I wanted The Woman to be the only pirate that Shear-Lock truly feared. Women pirates, like women in any male-dominated profession, had to be twice as good at their job (in piracy that meant being twice as bloodthirsty and cruel) as their male shipmates to gain respect.

That bit at the end just ... happened. But yes, one of these days The Adder will meet this terrible Manodoro... be disappointed that he's a mere surgeon, then shrug and decide her ship needs someone to stitch up her sailors and lop off limbs - whether Dr. Jack and Shear-Lock want it or no.