fic for phoenixfalls: Bee Yourself

[holmesticemods]

Title: Bee Yourself
Recipient: PhoenixFalls
Author: gardnerhill
Characters/Pairings: Elementary; Sherlock Holmes & Joan Watson, Ms. Hudson
Rating: G
Warnings: Crack. Also, bees.
Summary: Things get Kafkaesque around the brownstone.
Word Count: 8345

Also on AO3: "Bee Yourself"

Comments

[rachelindeed]

Wow, I've never watched Elementary but it was tremendously fun to immerse myself in the wonderfully detailed world you created here. I love to see a cracky premise taken seriously, and this delivered in spades! Exciting, interesting, creative and clever, it was a treat to see the solutions that Joan and Sherlock came up with to enable her to stay on the case and ultimately prevail on her own terms. And very nice to see that the experience gave her something of a gift in return -- a change in perspective, at least!

This was really fun, and I love all the thought that clearly went into it. Thanks so much for sharing this! <3 Bee-lightful! :)

[gardnerhill]

Thank you! I'm glad I could temporarily immerse you in the world of Elementary (the closest I've seen a Sherlock Holmes adaptation become an ensemble cast).

Joan Watson is very driven - valedictorian, quit being a surgeon when she lost her first patient, takes NONE of Sherlock's crap. So I figured she'd still be trying to do her work as Holmes' partner even turned into a big bug.

[phoenixfalls]

Oh my goodness, what an utterly delightful thing to wake up to!!! I was bouncing in my seat just from the summary, and the fic delivered everything I hoped for and more.

Somehow, despite putting "animal transformation" in my list of likes, it did not occur to me that with an Elementary fic that might mean someone transforming into a bee. I am just tickled with the result! Joan's experience of her bee body is so wonderfully bizarre, and the way she underreacts, goes straight to problem-solving (communicating with Sherlock, getting back to the case) and uses that to distract herself from a truly terrifying ordeal, is just so perfectly Joan.

Marthe is fabulous, I love her muse powers, and Joan wanting to lick her all over, and the way she turns out to be the key to the case! Sherlock's fretting over Joan's safety is perfect -- Joan and bees, practically the only beings in the world he worries about and wants to keep safe, now combined for greater efficiency! The case itself is so fantastically bizarre and while it's a bit more

[gardnerhill]

Very welcome! I had fun writing this as you can imagine, and wondering just how Joan Watson (and Sherlock) would handle such a bizarre occurrence. (Considering this show has dealt with cloned prehistoric mammals, stolen dinosaur skeletons and tiny robotic assassin mosquitoes, bee-people isn't that far off from Elementary's wheelhouse

[venusinthenight]

ZOMG. So fantastic. *nods*

[gardnerhill]

Thanks so much. I had fun writing this one. (After Kafka bummed me out with the original, I figured Metamorphosis needed a fix-it, or at least a display of what happens when a family member turns into a bug, but is surrounded by a supportive network of people instead of Gregor Samsa's toxic family.)

[graycardinal]

I had a strong feeling about where this was going the moment I finished reading the title and summary. (A) I was not wrong, (B), I will be really, really surprised if the author is not REDACTED*, and (C), no matter who the author turns out to be, this is possibly the single best science-fictional Holmesian short story I've read in any medium, fannish or professional, in all the years I've been collecting pastiches. Yes, the premise is baroque -- but the working-out of that premise, and the construction and resolution of the mystery arising from it, are both brilliantly and cogently executed in good solid SFnal style. And it's a premise right in line with long-standing canonical and scholarly speculations relative to Holmesian beekeeping.

Well done!

[edited because I forgot to actually insert the footnote on the first pass]

*Thematic clues aside, one need only apply a thoughtful eye to certain kudos to reach the inevitable conclusion....

[amindamazed]

I think there are at least two contenders with relevant track records. I'm waiting for other gifts to potentially exclude one or more (though the suspects I have in mind have written additional treats in exchanges-past, so really there's no ruling anyone out...).

[gardnerhill]

It helps that only 2-3 Holmestice writers take on Elementary - easier to narrow down!

Thanks so much for the compliment! I've written a bit of s.f. and fantasy to sell, so I'm pretty good at the "...and then what?" part of the story-building after a weird idea pops up. Joan Watson is such a driven person, I can see her just being irritated that she's a bug because it's cutting into her workload. And of course Sherlock warring between factoring in his new tiny assistant in his plans and his fear for Queen!Joan's safety as an apiarist.

[saki101]

This was a beautifully-detailed, imaginative delight!! I loved so many things (the different flavoured honeys and Holmes saluting the bee the first morning with 'your majesty', for example), but the small, small print on the supplement bottle was perhaps my favourite! Gotta read that small print!

[gardnerhill]

Thank you! As with the bottle, it's the fine details that make a believable fantasy story.