pompey_01

July 31 - Moving Day

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 02:27:23 GMT

Title: Moving Day

Author: Pompey

Universe: ACD Canon

Rating: G

Warnings: none

Word count: 221B

Summary: Not all goodbyes are sad ones.

Prompt: July 31 – saying goodbye

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July 30 - Life of a Page Boy

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 03:32:03 GMT

Title: Life of a Page Boy

Author: Pompey

Universe: ACD

Rating: G

Warnings: none

Word count: 550

Summary: Billy sees the aftermath of the Garrideb case

Prompt: July 30 - Give a minor character’s point of view to something going wrong

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July 29 - Tempus Fugit

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 02:49:20 GMT

Title: Tempus Fugit

Author: Pompey

Universe: Basil of Baker Street/Great Mouse Detective

Rating: G

Warnings: none

Word count: 350

Summary: Dawson is injured during a case, but finds some humor in it.

Prompt: July 29 – clock

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July 28 - Arkada part 4 (Flight of Faith)

Sat, 29 Jul 2023 03:50:51 GMT

Title: Flight of Faith

Author: Pompey

Universe: Arkada (my own Wing!lock AU)

Rating: PG13

Warnings: Medical ickiness, including what would be malpractice in real life

Word count: 2064

Summary: John is a Homo sapien. Sherlock and Mycroft are Homo aves. Now John has a chance to become one of them . . . if he survives the process.

Prompt: July 28 – Alternate universe
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A/N: This is from the Arkada series I wrote during the 2021 Watson’s Woes July challenge. A lot of people said they were interested in this universe at the time, and I had a lot of fun writing it, and there’s a lot of things in this universe I haven’t explored yet. Note: I am not writing this series entirely in chronological order. This story technically fits in between parts 1 and 2.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
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July 27 - Sleeping Arrangements

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 03:40:20 GMT

Title: Sleeping Arrangements

Author: Pompey

Universe: ACD

Rating: PG13

Warnings: character death

Word count: 1226

Summary: My friend and lover, John Watson, was a man who preferred sleeping next to others rather than sleeping alone.

Prompt: July 27 - Tavener Chilingirian Quartet “Come and do your will in me”

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July 26 - The Housekeeper of Wassup Holmes

Thu, 27 Jul 2023 03:24:25 GMT

Title: The Housekeeper of Wassup Holmes

Author: Pompey

Universe: Crazy Adventures of Wassup Holmes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQQJ1OhARWk)

Rating: PG

Warnings: cracky cracky crack crack

Word count: 165

Summary: Just . . . . . watch the video on YouTube first (perhaps not at work though?) and then read this.

Prompt: July 26 - What does Mrs. Hudson really think of her lodgers?

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July 25 - Momentum of a Round Stone

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 03:53:58 GMT

Title: Momentum of a Round Stone

Author: Pompey

Universe: ACD

Rating: G

Warnings: none

Word count: 221B

Summary: Watson goes into a metaphoric battle at Holmes’ orders.

Prompt: July 25 – unusual battle cry

A/N: From Sun Tzuh’s “Art of War”:Thus the energy developed by good fighting men is as the momentum of a round stone rolled down a mountain thousands of feet in height.

I am no stranger to battle. Whether it be on a literal battlefield soaked with men’s blood, the midnight battle against sickness and the power of death itself, or a battle of wits that pitched Holmes and our agency against the criminal element, I was quite familiar with it all.

However, a battle of wits is inclined to take the strangest forms at times and be played upon the weirdest of fields with the most bizarre weaponry.

When I suspected Holmes of malingering even to me after Baron Gruner’s cowardly attack, I understood this to be part of his plan to convince the public he was at death’s door. Keeping the scoundrel overconfident and self-assured would provide us a weapon – the element of surprise.

Then Holmes sent me off to metaphoric battle armed with naught but a priceless blue saucer, a card with a false identity, and a brain freshly filled with all the knowledge of Chinese pottery that I could cram into it in twenty-four hours.

As far as battle cries go, I admit “Shang, Zhou, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, Qing” is not one that will readily rouse the blood. Yet I chanted these names as my carriage rattled to Vernon Lodge. I remain convinced this manta provided a serenity of mind to face the baron.

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Tue, 25 Jul 2023 03:39:22 GMT

Title: In the Age of COVID

Author: Pompey

Universe: BBC Sherlock

Rating: PG

Warnings: plot? What plot?

Word count: 853

Summary: COVID harms the residents of 221 Baker Street in different ways.

Prompt: July 24 - pandemic

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July 23 - Silver Friends

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 03:38:23 GMT

Title: Silver Friends

Author: Pompey

Universe: SH in the 22^nd Century

Rating: G

Warnings: mention of character death

Word count: 325

Summary: “Make new friends but keep the old / One is silver, the other gold.”

Prompt: July 23 – someone/something is lost

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July 22 - Butterflies

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 02:24:03 GMT

Title: Butterflies

Author: Pompey

Universe: BBC

Rating: PG

Warnings: somewhat animal ick

Word count: 200

Summary: John is seeing butterflies. And the butterflies are tasting John.

Prompt: July 22 – animal vegetable mineral

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July 21 - Bad Luck Comes in Threes

Sat, 22 Jul 2023 02:26:54 GMT

Title: Bad Luck Comes in Three

Author: Pompey

Universe: ACD

Rating: PG

Warnings: mention of miscarriage

Word count: 200

Summary: Watson has had quite the year.

Prompt: July 21 – Rule of Threes

Watson had lived through more than one annus horribilis. 1880 had been rather volcanic on a personal level. 1891 . . . well, all of London understood why he was so reluctant to revisit that particular year.

But 1893 started out well -- very well. He and Mary became expectant parents, his grief at losing Holmes was healing, his practice was thriving, and his new contract with The Strand was becoming lucrative.

And then, disaster. The economy, which had been rather anemic for the past ten years, worsened with the American panic which had erupted in February. The British net capital flows abroad dropped by over fifty percent. Watson watched with concern as his foreign investments dwindled just when his little family was growing.

Until it stopped growing, abruptly and terribly. Mary lost the baby in a frightening hemorrhage. Watson fought to save her life, grieving their child but knowing its fragile life was already lost. He thought he might have beaten back death when the hemorrhage finally slowed.

The next day Mary succumbed to the blood loss and shock.

And 1893 was added to the small but painful list of years Watson would just as soon forget ever existed.

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July 20 - The Debriefing

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 02:21:24 GMT

Title: The Debriefing

Author: Pompey

Universe: ACD

Rating: PG13

Warnings: blood

Word count: 1095

Summary: Not everything that happens end up in a police report

Prompt: July 20 -Well, That Took a Turn

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A/N: A companion/prequel to my July 19 story “Hearts”

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July 19 - Hearts

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 00:03:42 GMT

Title: Hearts

Author: Pompey

Universe: ACD

Rating: PG

Warnings: my strange facts are mostly anachronistic to Victorian times. Also some medical icky.

Word count: 617

Summary: Just a good, ol’ fashioned bedside vigil after some good, ol’ fashioned whumpage.

Prompt: July 19 - Use a strange fact in your work today.

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July 18 - Mirror

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 03:43:10 GMT

Title: Mirror

Author: Pompey

Universe: BBC Sherlock

Rating: PG

Warnings: implied domestic abuse, spoilers for the show

Word count: 619

Summary: John Watson is an angry man.

Prompt: July 18 - “No, I don’t know him. Should I?”

A/N: Not happy with how this turned out but once again, writing in a rush. Also, extreme shout-out to Gardnerhill, who’s summation in the story “The Perils of Johnnie” (Chapter Eleven) inspired this.

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July 17 - Into the Viper's Den

Tue, 18 Jul 2023 03:28:56 GMT

Title: Into the Viper’s Den

Author: Pompey

Universe: Basil of Baker Street

Rating: PG

Warnings: shameless cliffhanger

Word count: 482

Summary: In a previous challenge, I stated that there were no venomous snakes in England. I was wrong. This is my attempt at redemption.

Prompt: July 17 – “creepy” creature

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July 16 - Football

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 03:33:54 GMT

Title: Football

Author: Pompey

Universe: BBC Sherlock

Rating: PG

Warnings: none

Word count: 275

Summary: John hates feeling useless.

A/N: I thought this was going to be a simple “John got hurt in sports” story until I gave him the sports injury. And then the ending came.

Prompt: July 16 – picture prompt, word I used was “Watsoninan” and I got a pic of a rugby club in Scotland called Watsonian FC

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July 15 - Go With The Flow

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 02:39:05 GMT

Title: Go With the Flow

Author: Pompey

Universe: ACD

Rating: G

Warnings: none

Word count: 100

Summary: What's a writer to do when he's in the groove but also sleepy?

Prompt: July 15 - Involve an invention, creation, or novel approach to a problem

"My dear Watson, you can't even keep your eyes open. Surely the manuscript can wait until tomorrow."

I repressed a yawn. It was true my eyes were very tired but I had finally found my narrative flow and I hated to interrupt it. Thankfully, there was another way.

I bid Holmes a good night, retired to my room, and closed the door to muffle the noise. I pulled out the typewriting machine I had recently purchased and ensured my fingers were on the correct row.

Courses in touch typing had taught me how to continue writing with my eyes closed.

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July 14 - Starting Over

Sat, 15 Jul 2023 03:02:40 GMT

Title: Starting Over

Author: Pompey

Universe: Elementary

Rating: PG

Warnings: spoilers for series finale episode

Word count: 431

Summary: After years working together and years working apart, Joan and Sherlock start over.

Prompt: July 14 – word list: zealous, jumpy, savor, group, tender, yielding, crib, strive, dull, equal

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July 13 - The Chap in the Cap

Fri, 14 Jul 2023 02:40:13 GMT

Title: The Chap in the Cap

Author: Pompey

Universe: ACD-ish (and Great Mouse Detective?)

Rating: G

Warnings: absolute ridiculousness, some wobbly rhymes, and blatant parodying of Dr. Seus

Word count: 439

Summary: Watson is steadfast despite Holmes’ questions.

Prompt: July 13 – picture prompt(s)

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July 12 - Waves

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 02:19:14 GMT

Title: Waves

Author: Pompey

Universe: ACD retirement years

Rating: G

Warnings: none

Word count: 283

Summary: Watson enjoys the beach.

Prompt: July 12 – a body of water

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July 11 - The Letter

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 03:28:55 GMT

Title: The Letter

Author: Pompey

Universe: ACD alternative

Rating: PG

Warnings: alternative timeline

Word count: 956

Summary: An unexpected letter causes Watson some big feelings. Holmes investigates.

Prompt: July 11 – brother

A/N: Endings are hard and I’m rushed. Please excuse.

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July 10 - Morning Glory

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 02:21:37 GMT

Title: Morning Glory

Author: Pompey

Universe: Ritchie movies

Rating: PG

Warnings: just a cliffhanger

Word count: 150

Summary: If something is suspicious, you should be suspicious

Prompt: July 10 – blue flowers

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July 9 - The Haunting of Sherlock Holmes

Sun, 09 Jul 2023 19:28:49 GMT

Title: The Haunting of Sherlock Holmes

Author: Pompey

Universe: alternative

Rating: PG

Warnings: some crackiness

Word count: 1352

Summary: Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries – Is a famous street in London, England haunted the ghosts of two people who never existed? People are coming forward to say “yes.”

Prompt: July 9 – creepy music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5y4m5VgBWw

Author’s Note: the creepy music prompt made me think of “Unsolved Mysteries” with theme music so iconic to my childhood that it’s part of my Halloween playlist. (Am I dating myself? Yes, but seriously, check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iox57lTnJDc)

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[CLOSED CAPTIONING IS PROVIDED BY THE NATIONAL BROADCASING COMPANY]

NARRATOR: This program is about unsolved mysteries. Whenever possible, the actual family members and police officials have participated in recreating the events. What you are about to see is not a news broadcast.

[THEME MUSIC BEGINS]

ROBERT STACK: Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries – Is a famous street in London, England haunted the ghosts of two people who never existed? People are coming forward to say “yes.”

On a cold, rainy night in October of 1990, a family in Oklahoma was heading home. They never made it. Can you help the police find these missing persons?

Barbie Banner was an up-and-coming starlet in the 1960s, with enough talent and beauty to become the next Marilyn Monroe. But her career and her life were cut short by a fatal car crash. Was it an accident, or was it murder?

The small town of Forks, Oregon is being plagued by a mysterious group of pale-skinned strangers. Could vampires really be stalking the residents?

For every mystery, there is someone somewhere who knows the truth. Perhaps it’s you.

[OPENING CREDITS]

ROBERT STACK [VO OVER SCENES OF LONDON]: Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the most famous detective in the world. Together with his companion, Dr. Watson, Holmes solved the unsolvable mysteries of Victorian London. And yet, neither he nor Watson ever existed. They are nothing more than fictional characters invented over 100 years ago by a Scottish doctor, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Or are they? Eyewitnesses have come forward to claim that they have seen the famous duo still inhabiting Baker Street, more than 60 years after their creator’s death. Could Holmes and Watson have escaped the pages of the stories and taken on real lives of their own?

WOMAN #1: I moved into 223 Baker Street about two years ago. And even though I know nobody’s lived at 221 since I’ve been here, some nights I’ll hear violin coming from next door. But nobody’s there.

MAN: I’ve lived at 219 Baker Street for near eleven years. I’ve heard violin music, or at least violin sounds, played in the night, coming from 221. It’s never made any difference whether or not there are actual tenants at 221. Anyway, none of the tenants of 221 have ever been violin players so long as I’ve lived on Baker Street.

WOMAN #2: I seen shadows across the windows of 221. Silhouettes, sometimes. Two men. Daytime, nighttime, even when there ain’t supposed to be anyone living there. I called the police once ’cause I thought maybe there was intruders. The police found nuffin. Not even footprints in the dust, even. And not fifteen minutes after the police was there, the shadows was back.

ROBERT STACK [VO]: Noises and shadows are one thing. They’re easy to explain away. Not so easy to explain are the experiences of Nigel Clark, formerly a tenant of the famous 221 B Baker Street apartments.

NIGEL COWL: I’ve heard the violin music, of course. I had thought it was neighbors but everyone I spoke to denied it. It certainly wasn’t me; I haven’t a musical bone in my body. So I chalked it up to echoes from somewhere or some classical music radio station being picked up. I paid it no mind.

Then the shadows started.

NIGEL COWL [VO RE-ENACTMENT]: And those were a bit harder to explain, because I hadn’t seen them to start with and as far as I knew, there was no new lightening or construction in the area to start causing them. But the more I noticed them, the more . . . solid, I suppose, they became. There were two distinct figures. They didn’t always appear together and they both seemed to be men but I could easily tell them apart. One was much taller and very thin and the other was shorter and more of a medium build. I could always get a whiff of tobacco with either of them.

NIGEL COWL: So that was rather unsettling. But neither of the figures caused me any harm or tried to interact with me. I didn’t have rattlings or moanings or things moving about on their own. So eventually I just became used to the shadow figures.

ROBERT STACK [VO]: Used to them, until one fateful day, when Nigel misplaced his keys.

NIGEL COWL [VO RE-ENACTMENT]: I thought for sure I had put my keys on their little hook by the door, where I always do. But they weren’t there. I nearly turned the place upside looking for them but I couldn’t find them. I was just about beside myself so in a fit of frustration, I shouted, “I don’t suppose either of you lot know where my keys are!”

NIGEL COWL: I was talking to the figures directly. I don’t know why I did that. I was just so frustrated. But I got an answer.

UNSEEN VOICE #1 [RE-ENACTMENT]: Your keys are behind the little bookshelf beneath the key hook.

UNSEEN VOICE #2 [RE-ENACTMENT]: The hook was not secured properly into the wall. Eventually the constant weight of the keys pulled it downward until the keys fell off and slipped between the bookcase and the wall. If you had observed the hook properly, you would not have wasted an hour on a fruitless search.

NIGEL COWL: I can tell you, I have never been that close to soiling myself since I was toilet trained. I was absolutely frozen with fear for I don’t know how long.

NIGEL COWL [VO RE-ENACTMENT]: Eventually I got some of my nerve back and looked behind the little bookcase. There were my keys. And the little hook was in fact almost pulled out of the wall. Exactly as the voices had said.

NIGEL COWL: I didn’t stay at 221 much longer after that. I don’t think anyone does stay long there. I certainly don’t blame them.

ROBERT STARK: Some folks would find it hard enough to believe that 221 B Baker Street is haunted by “regular” ghosts. But haunted by ghosts who never existed in the first place?

RICHARD FINROE: [screen subtitle: Richard Finroe, Sherlock Holmes Researcher] The thing to remember about Sherlock Holmes – and Dr. Watson – is that they really have become larger than life. Conan Doyle himself used to bemoan the fact that Holmes was eclipsing all his other writings. He actually resented Holmes for taking attention away from what Doyle thought were his more serious works like The White City. He even tried to kill Holmes off by throwing him from a waterfall. It didn’t take, obviously. [Laughs] The public wanted more Holmes and eventually, Doyle gave in and brought him back to life.

I don’t know if he ever fully came to terms with it, though. In 1912, Doyle was criticized for having Sherlock Holmes say some derogatory things about other fictional detectives – in poem form! – so Doyle wrote a responsive poem called “To An Undiscerning Critic” that ends with the line, “The doll and its maker are never identical.” Which is true, but Doyle was the one literally putting words into Holmes’ mouth. At least at the time. Now that Sherlock Holmes is mostly in the public domain, there are even more movies and books and stories and TV shows. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that the characters of Holmes and Watson, who took on lives of their own even while their creator was alive, have gone on to become real entities in their own right. I wouldn’t say that they haunt Baker Street but, that their spirits are real and existing in 221 B? Yes, I can believe that.

ROBERT STARK: There have been no tenants in 221 B Baker Street for the past three years. No living ones, at any rate. But whether or not you believe in ghosts, or that fictional characters can come to life on their own, there is something reassuring in the thought of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson residing on Baker Street, still watching out for Londoners and their mysteries.

Join us next time, for another episode of Unsolved Mysteries.

[OUTRO MUSIC]

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July 8 - 'Phone Plans

Sun, 09 Jul 2023 00:51:32 GMT

Title: ’Phone Plans

Author: Pompey

Universe: ACD Canon

Rating: PG

Warnings: none

Word count: 461

Summary: Holmes takes exception to one of Watson’s publications.

Prompt: July 8 – unreliable narrator

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A/N: “The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge” was published in Sept-Oct 1908 in two parts. It is likely that Doyle really was inspired by the unsolved death of Mary Money in 1905 when writing BRUCE.

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July 7 - Enjoyment

Sat, 08 Jul 2023 03:45:44 GMT

Title: Enjoyment

Author: Pompey

Universe: Elementary

Rating: PG

Warnings:

Word count: 125

Summary: Why did Joan sleep with Mycroft in season 2?

Prompt: July 7 – taking action
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Whatever else Mycroft may or may not be, he was absolutely a great kisser. Perfect amount of pressure, perfect combination of tenderness and passion, perfect control of his tongue against Joan’s.

He will try to bed you.

Sherlock’s words kept intruding despite her attempts to forget them. They gave her an unsettling sense of being manipulated, nothing but a pawn between the two brothers and their unresolved hostility. But there were always two sides to every story and Mycroft had been nothing but gracious to her and to Sherlock since their arrival.

Besides, as Sherlock had accurately and humiliatingly deduced, Joan hadn’t had sex in a very long time. Manipulated or not, she was enjoying herself – and Mycroft – too much to want to stop now.

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