Fic for graycardinal: Echoes of the Past

[holmesticemods]

Title: Echoes of the Past
Author: gardnerhill
Recipient: graycardinal
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century
Pairing: Sherlock Holmes and Beth Lestrade
Word Count: 3082
Rating: G
Warning: None
Summary: There’s more than one way to connect with a previous century.
Author's Notes: Written for graycardinal.

Comments

[cherrytide]

I'm not familiar with this canon but I very much enjoyed this story - I love melancholy Holmes in a new era where depression isn't seen as a weakness, and the Watson droid who manages to find ways to sneak around his programming to help Holmes, with very Watson-characteristic humour and thoughtfulness. It's lovely to see that while Holmes has lost his past friends, he has firm ones in the new world.

[gardnerhill]

Thank you!

Doesn't matter what form or body Watson has - alien, robot, mouse, or woman - Watson needs to help Holmes and will find a way to do it. I did love the idea of having Holmes realize that he's got a new family if he's willing to make the connections.

[sanguinity]

Oh, I do love her, and her obstinacy, too. She's not much of one for order-taking; not from her boss, and not from Holmes, either. (Oh, she'll consider the orders she's been given, but follow them just because they were given to her? Only if she thinks they make good sense, thank you, and if she thinks she can improve on them, she'll do just that.) Her voice throughout this was lovely, just the right balance of stick-it-in-your-eye abrasiveness, utterly inseparable from her caring and diligence.

And oh, poor Watson! Wasn't it established that Watson is a person, in the anti-tech ep? But apparently he still has all the only-a-tool, defer-to-humans programming in play, ergh, what an impossible bind to be in. That was a clever end-run around your baseline programming, Watson, I commend you. (Even as I want to kick Holmes on your behalf, really. I sympathize with the inability to look at a facsimile of John Watson's face, or the facsimile of his personality, but... Oh, it's just an impossible situation all around, really, for everyone

[graycardinal]

[back from combing through back posts]

Agreed with all of this. That said -- I am now exceedingly curious, because it looks to me as if you and I are the only two people in the whole group who mentioned 22nd Century in our signups. Clearly we have a (very capable) stealth fan in our midst....

[sanguinity]

The only two who mentioned it specifically, yes, but gardnerhill said "try me" and writes SH22 from time-to-time. And then there are people who didn't sign up, but who have offered it in the past -- k_e_p, for example -- and who might be lurking about writing treats. And of course it's also very possible that whoever was matched to you -- via something other than SH22, if we're ruling out ourselves -- took a look at your requests and decide to write a fill zie hadn't offered

[graycardinal]

Very nicely enumerated there (and a good point about those pesky research scientists, at that). And apart from the most obviously implausible theories (heh!), your suspicions are more or less in line with my own.

[tripleransom]

Oh, very nice. I've always felt that there was a lot of behind the scenes heartbreak inherent in that show. Way to go, Beth! And I love human Watson showing through with 'droid Watson. Nothing like a little pawky humour!

[gardnerhill]

Thanks very much! I like that show and enjoyed Watson's little end-run around his programming.

[graycardinal]

[klunk]

[crreeakk]

[climb back into chair]

Wow. This is fantastic. This is (not surprisingly) a side of Holmes we don't see in 22C canon, but it makes total sense that it would in fact manifest just as it does here. Lestrade is drawn really well -- yes, she's definitely more of a blunt-force operator by inclination, but (in part thanks to Holmes' influence) she's capable of resorting to more nuanced investigative strategies at need. And then we've got Watson, whose capacity for logically derived warmth has a wonderfully Asimovian quality.

Add to that the introduction of Lestrade's extended family, concisely yet vividly accomplished, and the tale as a whole comes together just beautifully.

So thank you, thank you, thank you! This has done more than make my morning; it's made my week at the least.

[gardnerhill]

Thanks so much! I'm glad I was able to deliver the goods to your satisfaction. I like that series too, and just wanted all of it to catch up to Holmes (and for Beth to do more than shoot things). I also had great fun with Watson's Asimovian end-run around his programming to help Holmes.

I also liked conjuring up Beth's relatives just by her side of the conversation. That she gets on best with her Great Grandfather might be a hint about why she gets along so well with 200+-year-old Holmes!

[scandalbaby]

Oh, I loved this so much. Like, this was so perfect for the show. I loved that she wanted to introduce Sherlock to her Gee-Gee, too.

I may have my son leave a separate comment later after I have him read this, because I think he'll love it too.

[gardnerhill]

Thank you! I enjoyed creating relatives for Beth just from her responses to 'phone conversations. I may just have to write the Holmes and Gee-Gee story now...