Guessing Post

[holmesticemods]

Thank you so much for another wonderful round of Holmestice! The mods want to say THANK YOU to all the creators who joined us for this round. You put in a lot of hard work and made some really great fanworks.

Reveals and the Master List go up on December 21st. Until then, please enjoy and comment on all the lovely fanworks. Creators, please do NOT respond to Dreamwidth comments or post your fanwork elsewhere on the Internet until reveals go up in the community. You may of course reply to comments on AO3, which preserves your anonymity.

But we're not done yet -- treats are coming up! We'll continue to accept treats right through until reveals, so if there's a prompt for which you want to whip something up, please do! Just send it to holmesticemods@gmail.com using the regular submission guidelines.

If you'd like to guess at who created what in this round, a list of all the contributors -- including treat-makers -- is below the cut. Go ahead and take a guess! It's all in good fun.


796116311389 / redpenrevolution
a_different_equation
alexcat
belle82devart
colebaltblue
disheveledcurls
dogandmonkeyshow
dovahlock221
dryadinthegrove
elwinglyre
fridaythegowerstreetcat
gardnerhill
graycardinal
hp_swl_cumbercookie
ireallyshouldbedrawing
iwantthatcoat
keenir
bererjs
lamplighter1890
language_escapes
luthienberen
merindab
mightymads
milverton
monkiainen
nottoolateforthegame
orchid314
pagimag
penaltywaltz
phoenixfalls
pipmer1
rachelindeed
sanguinity
sanspatronymic
scfrankles
shinychimera
smallhobbit
starfishstar
tassynicole
tei
tripleransom
trobadora
venusinthenight
whoufflelover24
write_out


Go forth and leave love for your fellow Holmestice authors, artists, and vidders, and keep an eye out for the upcoming treats. See you again on the 21st, when we reveal who made what!

Comments

Guess for my gift “Recovery”

[iwantthatcoat]

I am 99.99% positive on this. Either it is luthienberen (Welcome to Holmestice!) or someone who went waaaaaay out of their way to make me think it was luthienberen and succeeded at their task with admirable skill.
I offer up the following “proofs”:
Luthienberen, being new, is not as sneaky as others at hiding things, and so, has left some clues in the prompt request aside from the fact that there are not many Rathbone folks out there to begin with....

In that request, they mention wanting to go light on casefic, as they are learning it. The fic notes state: “It is a bit light on the case fic as I am new to case fic, and focuses more on Holmes and Watson’s relationship.”

Furthermore, there is a preference for exploring their relationship, and while most stories do this more or less, it seems to be of central focus (and done very well, I might add).

In addition, I took a quick peek at their other works and found a lot of Rathbone. That explains the undertone of relief that Rathbone was an option.

I do not recognize the beta. (Not that that is a major point.) Nor is the beta retracted, which would have indicated that perhaps I might have recognized the beta (Though TBQH I have no clue who betas for whom. I haven’t been around near long enough to be privy to that information). Nor is there any indication the author saw a need to hide a beta...implying newness to the sneaky ways of fic detection.

Also, one of their atributed stories mentions Watson bringing his gladstone. While that is the unquestionably correct term for the medical bag, I am so used to it being refered to as a gladstone *bag* (posssibly to clarify that’s what it is and that it isnt a dog- what is it with this fandom and confusing dogs with non-dogs anyway??- that it stuck out. It is written that way in my gift as well.

While you lot are indeed devious, I do not think someone would go quite so far in trying to imitate the style of a newer participant.

Re: Guess for my gift “Recovery”

[luthienberen]

Thank you for the welcome!

No comment on the rest :)

[(Anonymous)]

I have my suspicions over just who created the gorgeous music video with which I was gifted.

[graycardinal]

My attempts at guesswork will come later in the week (I have cookies to bake and a Yuletide deadline to meet). Interesting round, though - more vids, lots of variety.

[sanguinity]

(psst, your fans are calling for you to come make your guesses! Reveals are tomorrow morning!)

[rachelindeed]

I am SO far behind, and there are so many new and wonderful contributors, and even familiar faces have clearly branched out in new directions this round...so I doubt I will have very many firm guesses this time. But what the heck! I'll throw my vague impressions into the wind and see if I can spot some likely suspects!

1) I think the first of the two beautiful 221B Baker Towers fics this round, "Do You Observe," must be starfishstar's. They have been so enthusiastic in advocating for that verse, but have conspicuously not commented or left kudos there. Also, I know that they were concerned about whether they would have the resources to research and write for that verse in an authentic way, and the 1sentence format strikes me as a brilliant way to approach that challenge, allowing them to paint so many dazzling ideas and moments and give a kaleidoscope of glimpses into that world. It's gorgeous, it's moving, and I think it's starfishstar's.

2) "In Pursuit of a Suit" strikes me as SCFrankles's work. The lovely prose and hilarious absurdist elements are all there, I think I spotted a Dear Ladies cameo, and the deeper emotion and more melancholy reflections, all steeped in a level of detail that indicates extreme familiarity with the ACD canon, make me think this is her story. She mentioned recently that she wanted to push her writing in new directions and try to deepen the characterizations, and those elements seemed really strong to me in this fic. But she couldn't resist that pun for the title! It's like a calling card :P

3) "Frost at Midnight" is sanspatronymic's -- cold toes, fond endearments, and Victor Trevor. The evidence is inescapable!

These others I'm less sure of, but I'll go ahead and guess:

"Five Christmases and an Easter" - dogandmonkeyshow

"Kintsugi" - gardnerhill

"The Kincardine File" - smallhobbit

"Bones McCoy, Private Investigator" - ireallyshouldbedrawing

And I'll have to keep reading/watching to see if I can come up with any more guesses as I continue to catch up! :)

[pipmer1]

You know, "Five Christmases and an Easter" was a gift to me! And dogandmonkeyshow crossed my mind as well, mostly because they signed up for BBC gen fic, no pairings. So your guess is definitely a good one. BUT I also know that they love writing Mycroft, and since one of my suggestions was that I love to read about the HOlmes brothers dynamic, I feel like they wouldn't be able to resist. Plus they say that Irene is one of those characters they find boring, soooo... my guess is it's not them :)

[pipmer1]

I'm *almost* positive that a-different-equation wrote 'The Case of the Perfect Husband'. I say this because I have betaed for them in the past (not this time though!) and the style is very much theirs. Another clue for me was when they responded to a comment, they mentioned the BBC radio play, which just happened to be the verse of the gift that they themselves received! So... 95% sure?

[elwinglyre]

I second this one! I think so too. Just went and read it, and if you read the comments, it reads like her sweet comments too.

[starfishstar]

I am so, so far behind (literally I have not read a single entry except, of course, my own gift) but I am determined to start tonight!

Meanwhile, congratulations to everyone – what a wonderful round, with so many different verses and formats and aaaaah, Holmestice is so great!

I'll be back at some point to start guessing (I hope!)

[tei]

I guess penaltywaltz for my fluffy Elementary slice-of-life graphical fic! (I dunno if that's the right word?) There were only two people who offered both Elementary and art-- penaltywaltz and venusinthenight, and the latter commented and kudosed the fic. I suppose it's possible that someone who didn't offer art decided to do their fic as post-it notes, but it seems less likely than someone who already had art in mind when they signed up.

[nottoolateforthegame]

Agree-also venusinthenight offered My Dearly Beloved Detective. I think the mods would lean towards matching that fandom offering up with someone who requested it :)

[sanguinity]

I was shocked (shocked!) to refresh my dash yesterday and find a treat (a treat!) for me (for me!) that I knew nothing about! (!!!) It seems my wife, my co-mod, and my giftor all CONSPIRED TOGETHER to not only gift me a treat, but to make sure that I knew nothing about it.

Including, it turns out, who made it! (Do you know how much I've missed participating in the guessing part of the guessing post? SO MUCH.) So. Before I accidentally spoil myself while going about my modly duties...

I think starfishstar wrote The Glorious Disguise.

The treat's very existence immediately made me think of starfishstar -- they once expressed an ambition to surprise me for Holmestice, and there was some real effort here put into doing just that. Moreover, the opening lines of the author's note made me think of them as well, a certain comfort with effusiveness that I have long marked and admired in starfishstar. Further, I know they were churning out completed stories during November like a machine, whereas most of the other people I might finger for this were under tighter (although admittedly not impossible) schedules.

As to the story itself, when I compare it with The Fixed Foot, starfishstar's earlier foray into My Dearly Beloved Detective, there's a similarity in the style of author notes, as well as a consistency in thought about both the Robbie Summers question (i.e., Jane never married him) and also about that night at the Gentlemen's Club. (Namely, that both women needed to change their behavior: Jane to become more comfortable with risk and disguise, Shirley to be more respectful of Jane's limits.) It's a small fandom, but neither of those are universal opinions. Similarly, starfishstar noted in their sign-up that "for me their parting at the end either never happened, or was quickly rectified afterwards offscreen" -- again, a certain commitment to this particular handling of the Robbie Summers question -- and that they wanted a happier story (which this is, whereas the fandom as a whole tends to run toward melancholy). Again: this is all very consistent with the story being theirs. As to writing style, there's also a consistent aesthetic between the two stories about what a sentence should look/sound like.

None of which is conclusive -- confirmation bias is always a concern! -- but I'm having trouble coming up with another candidate that seems half as likely.

[starfishstar]

Now I can finally say: I'm SO THRILLED you enjoyed your surprise!

I didn't even know it would be possible for you, as a mod, to see the fic without seeing the author attached, so that was a wonderful surprise for me too, that you got the fun of guessing.

This all started because I wanted to do *something* extra for you, since you're a mod and never get to be surprised. So I figured, if who you're getting a gift from isn't a surprise, maybe the number of gifts could be. (I wanted to write you a hat trick – three fics in three different rare 'verses – but any other one would have required a lot more canon review, and time didn't allow!) But then when I approached colebaltblue about how sneaky we might be able to be about this, she said, actually, we could hold back on posting the fic, and coordinate so that it all happened really fast before you could be accidentally spoiled to the surprise. There has been much cloak-and-dagger scheming these past weeks, and I'm so pleased you enjoyed the result. :-)

And please know, 9/10 of the credit for this belongs to colebaltblue! I just showed up when and where she told me to. (She got grrlpup to keep you out of the way at the critical juncture, too.) :D

As for the fic itself...well, as you can tell, I didn't even try to disguise myself, since I didn't know you would see it as anonymous! But you are right on all counts about what makes this obviously me. Funny story, in an earlier draft I was still trying to juggle catering to the fandom consensus on how view Shirley and Jane's fight (on Shirley's side) with how I actually feel about it (on Jane's side!) and it was all a bit of a mess. colebaltblue said, don't do that, just write it how you see it. So I did. :-) And yeah, it's just so tragic to me that they would have this single disagreement and then part ways forever. So I change that whenever I can!

As to writing style, there's also a consistent aesthetic between the two stories about what a sentence should look/sound like. – if it's something you can expand on at all, I would be so, so eager to know more about this. I have very little idea what my sentences are like! (Aside from...long.)

a certain comfort with effusiveness that I have long marked and admired in starfishstar – this is such a kind thing to say, and moved me so much. I think of my effusiveness as something a bit absurd that could do with reining in, so to hear it described as a positive did me profound good.

And lest you doubt it, I very much meant that author's note – you have inspired me so much, and I wanted to do *some* small nice thing back to you.

[venusinthenight]

So great to see so many first-time participants. Yay! Also: a lot of variety in 'verses this time around. Moar yay!

I think the person who wrote for me was one of the following, based on sign-up posts: orchid314, lamplighter1890, alexcat, maybe graycardinal? *shrugs*

When I first read "Do You Observe?", my first thought was gardnerhill wrote it, but they commented on it. However! I think they could be behind "Deduction, Translation, and Other Domestic Arts".

The amazing Video

[elwinglyre]

My Video was "Sleepless Nights, Empty Days." I thought from the first that the style looks like dovahlock221, but I could be wrong... There are so many who participated!

Anyway, who ever made my video needs to get some sort of Johnlock award. :)

Re: The amazing Video

[nottoolateforthegame]

I think its Dovah too! Post Reichenbach, evocative song choice, the editing and clips chosen...

[write_out]

This is one of my favorite parts of Holmestice. I sit here in awe at all of the guessing shenanigans every single round. :)

I'm still playing catch up myself, but I am loving all of the amazing fanworks I've seen so far. I love that there are so many first-timers too; the more the merrier!

My initial candidates for my gorgeous video "Before the Rain" were pagimag, dovahlock221, or milverton. Milverton said they preferred to work with an upbeat song if they did a vid, so I'm thinking they're likely not my person. Both pagimag and dovahlock221 offered up angst and hoo boy, is my gift full of delicious angst!

If I absolutely have to go with someone, however, I will pick pagimag. Their sign-up post said they love the complicated; John Watson, esp post S4 John, fits that bill perfectly. Whoever you are, THANK YOU AGAIN.

I need to do some rereading before I can hazard any reasonable fic guesses.

Thanks also to the mods, as always!

[nottoolateforthegame]

I think it was pagimag as well. They offered John/Other, and one of the things that stood out to me in the video was the way it highlighted not just Sherlock/John and John/Mary, but Sholto as well.

[phoenixfalls]

Okay, I'm game to try my hand at a few guesses this year. Starting with Elementary, because it's the fandom I know best:

Scenes From Two Lives, Converged - I'm guessing venusinthenight. Joanbell gen seems very much their style.

Got Milk? - Well, penaltywaltz offered Elementary as a source and fic & graphics as a fanwork type, so I'll guess this is their work!

Down on Mainstreet - Something about this maybe strikes me as Keenir's work? I can't articulate why, but that's my guess.

Some Unholy War - Perhaps this is by disheveledcurls? This guess is based purely on their offer of Elementary and a canon-divergent AU; the other person who offered that (that I spotted) is Keenir, who the fic is for, so it obviously isn't by them. :)

Hollow Moon (make a deal with the bad wolf) - No one offered Joan/Morland, that I can see at least; I've got no guesses here!

And then some more!Holmes guesses:

TWO 221b Baker Towers fics! But I only spotted one offer of the 'verse. So either tei wrote in the 'verse for both their assignment and picked up a pinch hit in it, or somebody was writing outside their offers. I'm fairly sure at least one of them is indeed by tei, because I can't imagine the mods NOT talking the opportunity to finally match on 221b Baker Towers 'verse. The styles feel just different enough that I'm going to guess they're not both by tei. So I'm going to allow myself to be convinced by rachelindeed's reasoning and guess the following:

Do You Observe? - starfishstar

Deduction, Translation, and Other Domestic Arts - tei

Though I would not be surprised if one of these fics is by gardnerhill, given their propensity for writing in obscure Holmesian fandoms.

(I had thought to guess language_escapes for Do You Observe?, but they didn't offer Baker Towers. Of course, I didn't spot any of their offers in the final list of works, so I'm pretty sure they wrote something not on their offers list. BUT they usually redact their beta during Holmestice, and the writer of Do You Observe? thanked a beta publicly, so I crossed language_escapes off of this guess.)

For My Dearly Beloved Detective I guess:

The Glorious Disguise - I'm nearly positive this is by starfishstar. The author's note alone seems very much in their voice, from what I've seen here on the comm; and I find sanguinity's rationale convincing as well. (Even though this means I'm guessing they wrote for sanguinity twice. Hey, I've gotta be right on at least one of these, right?)

rewrite the future/start from scratch - Maybe this is what language_escapes ended up writing? Though it doesn't seem in their usual style. But their offers were full of female versions of Holmes/Watson, so maybe?

And for my final guess, I will eat my hat* if the fic written for me, The Next World, is not by sanguinity. Sanguinity (1) introduced me to 1994 Baker Street/Sherlock Holmes Returns, as our resident more!Holmes pusher (going so far as to provide me the YouTube link!); (2) tailored the fic so precisely to my likes that I can't imagine anyone I had not discussed the movie with being able to do the same; and (3) is the only person who offered the movie anyway. :)

*I do not actually own any hats, this is an empty threat/promise.

[iwantthatcoat]

I have lots of extra hats for eating, shoudl you need one.
I don’t think you will. That’s pretty sound logic

[nottoolateforthegame]

Okay! I have some guesses this time, yay! Spent the morning rewatching the videos (which are all amazing!) and checking against offers and talking myself in circles about who did them, lol.

First, I watched Nightcall and I thought it had to be Dovah-because the lump in my throat-seriously, every time I watch a vid by Dovah it hits me right in the feels. But, they did not offer Sherlock & Mycroft. But rachelindeed did-so my official guess for Nightcall is rachelindeed. Changed my mind. rachelindeed did not offer BBC, so I think this one actually was knowmefirst.

Before the Rain I'm going to guess is pagimag, because they offered John/other and this one definitely drew attention not only to John/Sherlock and John/Mary, but John/Sholto as well.

Mr. Holmes Beekeeper I'm going to guess sanguinity, based entirely on the wide variety of fandoms they offered. Although, I had thought maybe a pinch hitter, too.

That leaves Sleepless Nights, Empty Days for Dovah. BBC, Sherlock/John and sure enough, it has that angsty post Reichenbach feel that brings a tear to your eye, which is right up their alley.

Okay, walking away now before I can talk myself out of all my guesses!

[nottoolateforthegame]

On to art guesses!

First a confession-I didn't bother to check recipients of my video guesses earlier-thank goodness I didn't guess anyone gave themselves a gift, lol!

Private Investigator-my guess is shinychimera based on the focus on Molly.

Got Milk?-I think is penaltywaltz, since the other Elementary art offering was venusinthenight, who offered My Dearly Beloved Detective-I think the mods would have tried to match them up on that first.

Time-I think is whoufflelover24-its BBC Sherlock/John and has the element of Alternative Universe with the TAB/time travel theme.

Now to sort through all the fics!

[796116311389]

I have absolutely no idea who were what, but everyone did a fantastic job this year, I think.
I feel like I also got some high quality introductions to new versions of the Sherlock Universe. (221B Towers really stands out for me. I had never heard of it before and, god, now I feel like I can't get enough.)

My one lone guess (and I'm fairly confident I'm wrong) is nottoolateforthegame wrote the soulmate au fic.

[iwantthatcoat]

There are a few that I know because I was somehow involved in the process. Here are a few guesses I have no prior knowledge of that I’m gonna throw out there:

I-L-O-V-E-Y-O-U : Seaweedwrites. Seaweed is deeply immersed in medfic at the moment so the ease with with they wrote the med stuff makes sense. Also I suspect they’d never write something without that beautiful wise and knowing more than he lets on Mycroft in it if at all possible. The concern about too much angst and it going beyond what was anticipated also seems a bit Seaweedish to me.

Forever and Always: I think this is Redpenrevolution/ 796116...etc. Why I am guessing RPR is difficult to explain. In part because of the lovely happy ending and the lack of angsty stuff, and in part due to a few word choices and stylistic stuff. Since I did beta for them a few times in the past, there is that sort of *feels like them* thing that Pipmer had mentioned that is quite difficult to justify.

[796116311389]

Ah! You guessed right that I wrote forever and always! I'm probably biased but yeah, I knew if anyone read my fic and has read anything else I've written it'd be a dead giveaway I wrote it. Even I know all my stuff has a similar pattern to it lol. :D

[nottoolateforthegame]

Some fic guesses, based mostly on verse/pairings:

Elementary:

Scenes From Two Lives, Converged-venusinthenight
Some Unholy War-disheveledcurls
Down on Mainstreet-monkiainen
Hollow Moon-Gilded_Pleasure

Baker Towers:

Deduction, Translation and Domestic Arts-tei (as mentioned above, they commented on the other Baker Towers fic).

Do You Observe-My brain keeps trying to tell me iwantthatcoat wrote this. I'm going to wait until I've actually sorted through the options before deciding though (especially because I can't explain why that little voice in my head has decided this is coat, lol).

BBC:

5 Christmases-dogandmonkeyshow because it fits their gen offer

Four Times Mycroft Holmes Tried to Look After His Brother, and One Time Sherlock Returned the Favour-pipmer because they offered Mycroft & Sherlock (which would mean pipmer and dogandmonkeyshow wrote one anothers fics for each other, something I just noticed)

The Case of the Perfect Husband-I had orignally thought milverton, but pipmer thinks they recognize the style as a-different-equation, so I'm going to take their word for it.

Recovery-I thought tazlet, but coat gives a good argument for it being luthienberen, so, again, I will take their word for it.

[sanguinity]

FYI, Gilded_Pleasure signed up, but isn't on the contributors list above -- between defaults and pinch-hitters, there's almost always a difference between who signed up and who ultimately contributed a gift for the exchange. ;-)

[starfishstar]

Hello! I'm back! I have guesses! Oh boy do I have guesses. :-)

(We've talked before, right, about the irony that Holmes never guesses, yet we spend a week after each round doing nothing but?)

Part 1 is...

FIC: THE RAREST 'VERSES

GRANADA: Ore of Silver – tassynicole, because this is the only fic that matches their offers and also isn't on AO3. AND, if I'm remembering the right person of Three Patch Podcast fame, they're a doctor in real life, so writing about doctors fits too, maybe?

RATHBONE: Recovery – luthienberen (by process of elimination of others I'll list elsewhere)

MY DEARLY BELOVED DETECTIVE: re-write the future / start from scratch – ooh, this was the gift to me, but I'm still not quite sure who wrote it. But by process of elimination elsewhere, and maybe also the title, I guess phoenixfalls

221B BAKER TOWERS:
Two fics and only one person who offered! It seems almost too obvious to guess Tei, the only offer-er...but I suppose I'm going to do that anyway. Which fic, though? The one where the author thanks hp_swl_cumbercookie, someone Tei appears to also be friends with. :-)
Deduction, Translation, and Other Domestic Arts – tei
Do You Observe? – yes, yes, I know you're all guessing me for this, but that's missing the crucial piece of evidence that not only did I 1) not offer the 'verse (despite requesting it!) but 2) as recently as in the sign-ups themselves, I was publicly admitting to sanguinity that I didn't feel qualified to write it. For sure I could have decided to write it even though I'd only requested and not offered...but that position is also true of venusinthenight or language_escapes

A STUDY IN EMERALD: The Evil Men Do – it's driving me nuts that I can't figure this one out – only one fic in this 'verse, I should be able to do it. But after some process of elimination elsewhere, I think I'm down to either alexcat or Belle82DevArt. Purely on the fact that they've written in this 'verse before (an admittedly flimsy basis!) I'll go with alexcat

HOWARD HOLMES: The Case of the Perfect Husband – the mention of Peepolykus clinches it – a_different_equation :-) (who admittedly didn't offer this 'verse, but the author's notes show the author really went out of their way to write something super rare for their recipient!)

CHRISTOPHER LEE FILMS: Bright Sons of the British Empire – keenir, as the only person besides the recipient to offer this 'verse

MISS SHERLOCK: Kintsugi – gardnerhill, another only offer-er

1994 BAKER STREET: The Next World – sanguinity, as the only person besides the recipient to offer it; though I didn't necessarily recognize it as Sang otherwise, and I've read enough of Sang's work that I really should be able to know it on sight! Then again... a gen fic in a super rare 'verse, where two people are sometimes prickly but overall try to do their best by each other and show their caring? With real-world history about the AIDS crisis, plus delightful bonus science bits (tardigrades!)? Yeah, maybe it's Sang after all. ;-)

THE NEWLY DISCOVERED CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: The Empty Audience – ohhhh, man, I can't stop pondering this one! No one but the recipient offered this 'verse, so someone has been wonderfully sneaky.

My foremost guess continues to be scfrankles...no, hear me out! I know we don't think of Frankles as writing sex scenes (even in comedy form), but everything else about this is very Frankles (and rachelindeed did say above that Frankles has been wanting to branch into new styles): it's classic-style radio comedy and even written in radio script format, it's full of great jokes, there's a CABIN PRESSURE REFERENCE...and since no one could have matched with the recipient on this 'verse, they have to have matched on something else, and knowing the mods they surely went for the rarer match if possible, which surely means Whitehead, which means scfrankles, luthienberen, or sanguinity – of those, I say scfrankles. (Who, I'll point out, hasn't commented on this fic despite it being clearly of interest, as described above.) But...porn? and the American spelling of "traveling"? (I mean, if anyone would deliberately misspell a word to throw guessers off track, it's probably Frankles, but still.) And the author's comments on the fic don't quite sound like Frankles to me.

So then I thought of graycardinal, another known chameleon who knows literally more 'verses than can be listed in a Holmestice sign-up. gray_cardinal hasn't commented nor kudos on the fic...yet has responded to a comment. Suggestive. Also, the author pops up in the comments and starts daring readers to do things, which is very gray_cardinal!

Also, though, I just now thought of someone I should have thought of much earlier: iwantthatcoat, who has expressed enthusiastic willingness to write in 'verses unknown to them, as long as it's possible to catch up on the canon fairly easily. At only 6 radio episodes, Newly Discovered Casebook seems doable. (And coat knows Cabin Pressure!) But coat has kudosed and also commented on this fic...asking if anybody can share a link to the episodes. That would be some pretty extreme misdirection. (Then again, iwantthatcoat and scfrankles have a running detection-and-counterdetection thing going, so maybe!)

So either someone has been very sneaky, and they're one of the people I guessed above but have provided successful misdirection, or else someone has been very sneaky, is not one of the people I guessed above, and slipped past without leaving any clues. Whoever you are, my admiration!

[iwantthatcoat]

Did you say “pretty extreme misdirection”?
All’s fair in love, war, and Holmestice?
Apologies if I overstepped.

I do keep getting suspected by tiny errors ( my dashes, and now my “traveling”. My keyboard spellcheck is set to UK. It should have flagged that as a misspelling!).

[starfishstar]

Part 2...

ART & VIDS


art:

Not Alone – starting at the end with the treat, because it's relevant to the rest; I think this is ireallyshouldbedrawing

(NB to all still guessing: With 46 official works (excluding treats) and 45 participants, somebody on the participant list created 2 things (still excluding treats). If I'm right that ireallyshouldbedrawing is on the list because of a treat, then that leaves 44 participants for the 46 official works, which means two people on the list have two works in the mix!)

Got Milk? – penaltywaltz, as the likeliest to have done both art and Elementary, and it also seems to fall maybe within their interests?

Time – bererjs, based on similiarity to others works of theirs

Art for Bones McCoy, Private Investigator – shinychimera, who signed up as part of a pair but now appears on the list singly – maybe this is why, because their work ended up being art rather than fic?


vids:

I know even less about vids than about art, but here are my attempts...

First of all, Dovah definitely made a vid, pagimag and milverton possibly did. Sanguinity is always a likely vid candidate...but I've placed her for fic this round...but it's entirely possible she did both her own assignment plus a pinch-hit. I also strongly lean toward thinking rachelindeed made a vid this time, since she's sounded eager to start vidding, and the mods are likely to have made a match on vids, to encourage diversity of works. 4 vids but 5 possible creators, let's do this!

Before the Rain – pagimag (but milverton or rachelindeed are also possible)

Sleepless Nights, Empty Days – dovahlock221

Nightcall – could also be pagimag, rachelindeed or milverton; I don't have enough to go on here... (could be rachel because of the Mycroft focus, but it's got more S3 & S4 than I would expect...or pagimag, who I think has made a previous Holmes-siblings vid? I couldn't find any of milverton's work to guess about more accurately!)

Mr. Holmes: Beekeeper – sanguinity really does seem the most likely: gen, rare verse, etc. But if it's not sang, it could be rachelindeed, who matched with gardnerhill on something else (Granada, Seven-Per-Cent Solution, etc.) but then chose to make this instead, out of excitement for vidding! (gardnerhill, by the way, didn't request this 'verse, just to add confusion to things...so the vidder had some kind of inside knowledge to know they would nonetheless enjoy this.)

Also, I may be wrong to not include knowmefirst for the vids; maybe they were a pinch-hitter and did both art and a vid!


ETA: All right, our Supreme Commander of Guessing has bolstered my confidence enough that I'm going to actually commit to my guesses, instead of hedging as above. So. Assuming sanguinity didn't do a pinch hit, I'll pin myself to:

Before the Rain – pagimag
Sleepless Nights, Empty Days – dovahlock221
Nightcall – milverton (though pagimag and milverton could still be switched)
Mr. Holmes: Beekeeper – rachelindeed, especially since this thoughtful exploration of interpersonal relationships is indeed quite rachel.

My guess for my fic

[a_different_equation]

Soooooooo... my gift was the EPIC 'The Empty Audience' (which should EVERYONE read ASAP!!!!), and I guess two lovely nissen were in it together, @sanguinarysanguinity & @scfrankles !

I've got a suspicion who's the author and who's the contributor of "stroke of genius"-line (among other things) but let's say: both are magic, and they have their ways ;)

My thoughts why it's them:

It's tailor-made, aka written with knowing me VERY well. They're my betas, we chat, hell, we're talking about a person who wrote/yelled at me in capital letters, "YOU CAN DRAG THE OXFORD COMMA FROM MY DEATH FINGERS", or something because I surely made a spelling mistake in this quote AGAIN...

Which leads to the linguistic patterns. Is it an inside joke or is it an inside joke (re: Americanism). Once again, the person I had a talk/lecture/scolding about Zimmermann vs cinnamon in the context of 'Sherlock Holmes: The Rediscovered Railyway Mysteries and Other Stories'

A person who had no knowledge prior my Holmestice assignement of the ACD universe *my* story is set in --- only to TELL the EXACT numbers of plates in one scene when working as my beta a week or so later... Research & attention to detail, check!

Thanks to me one/both know about 'The Newly Discovered Casebook of Sherlock Holmes'. Also, I remember a sneaky/evasive/... message that they have download it but - you know - busy etc.

Oh, and for 'Cabin Pressure' (re:comment on Ao3). Geoffrey Whitehead who voices Moriarty in this universe, is not only the best/eyeliner!Holmes but also starring in said radio comedy alongside Benedict Cumberbatch. Yes, I know such things. And who else...?

Exactly.

Re: My guess for my fic

[starfishstar]

Hee! So maybe I am right about scfrankles... I think I'll stick by that guess, then! :D

[starfishstar]

Speaking of scfrankles...where oh where are scfrankles' guesses this round? Supreme Commander of Guessing, come out and play!

[starfishstar]

And where oh where is graycardinal, master of deliberate obfuscations? Surely your cookies are baked by now? :D

[graycardinal]

I am at work (on lunch break); first wave of cookies is done but there are still Yule-bears in the bushes. Still, there will be guesswork tonight.

[starfishstar]

Part 3...

ELEMENTARY

some unholy war – disheveledcurls, based on the title

Scenes from Two Lives, Converged – venusinthenight, based on having expressed an interest in Marcus as a character

Down on Mainstreet – keenir, if doing a pinch-hit (a definite possibility, since one of the pinch hits was for a person with an Elementary-only offer, and keenir did offer to pinch hit), but otherwise, monkiainen

Hollow Moon – like all others who attempted this above, I'm totally stumped. Who wrote the werewolf AU?? I want to know!


RITCHIEVERSE

I'm really clutching at straws at this point, but...

Sand in His Teeth – maybe tripleransom, purely on the strength of having expressed an interest in exploring pre-canon?

The Dangerous Life of Sherlock Holmes – maybe nottoolateforthegame...?

[scfrankles]

I am so stumped by this batch of creations. But here’s a few guesses:

Kintsugi - gardnerhill. I agree with the guesses elsewhere. I was actually first introduced to the concept of kintsugi by Rachel, via the Poetry Page at Sherlock60. The comm at that point was tiny but had a few notable members. And one of those notable members has recently left an enthusiastic comment on photos of Wato and Sherlock over on Watson’s Woes: Yes!!!! Another Miss Sherlock fan! Also, the fic is currently only available within the Holmestice comm, and there is one underlined word used for emphasis, both of which make me think of gardnerhill.

The Stories We Tell - trobadora. Perhaps I’m jumping to conclusions but it’s a Holmes & Moriarty fic and particularly well-written, so trobadora comes immediately to mind.

The Adventure of the Travelling Correspondent. In the comments, the anonymous creator gives details of another of their fics and mentions it is their first go at Holmestice. With this in mind (and if they’re telling the truth ^^”), going through the ACD writers leads us to mightymads.

Do You Observe? - starfishstar. The anonymous creator mentions that they were inspired by rachelindeed’s fic Literary Shortcomings. So perhaps the author is someone who left kudos on that fic? And they have replied to sanguinity’s comment. It may be ‘anonymous’ but I’d know that voice anywhere, starfish-’my enthusiasm goes up to 11’-star.

The Next World - sanguinity. This seems so clearly to be by sanguinity that I panicked and wondered if there were some elaborate double bluff going on. I mean, it does end with a terrible, terrible pun and she’s told me in the past she doesn’t ‘get’ puns. But she’s a bright kid - perhaps she’s learnt a new skill.

The Madness of the Year - orchid314. I couldn’t give you any definite reasons why but it feels like it could be their work. And the anonymous creator is clearly friends and literary colleagues with ancientreader, and orchid314 has a fic gifted to ancientreader in their AO3 fics.

Mr. Holmes: Beekeeper - rachelindeed. I was anticipating a vid from Rachel so that may have coloured my thinking - I assumed this was hers before I even watched it. But the opening montage of shots changing on the beat of the music made me think of her debut Buster Keaton vid, with a series of physical impacts hitting each beat.

But I’m only really confident about a couple of these guesses. Kudos to all my fellow participants! You’re a clever and sneaky lot ^__^ I’m looking forward to the reveal so I can see who wrote my gift fic - I really can’t come up with a match there at all.

[trobadora]

and particularly well-written, so trobadora comes immediately to mind

Regardless of what I wrote or didn't write, thank you! I'm very flattered. :D

Guess Post

[hp_swl_cumbercookie]

I honestly have no idea who wrote the wonderful fic that I received. It was lovely but I simply don't know enough of the writers here well enough to make a guess. If anyone else wants to guess please feel free! I really look forward to finding out who wrote mine, and I would love to see what people thought I wrote. Just wanted to pop in and say my piece before the reveal tomorrow.

Re: Guess Post

[elwinglyre]

I can make a guess on the story written for you, "Tricks of Radiant Miracles," but as for which story you wrote, I'm pretty sure it's "Book of John." It's your style and fits your thematic ideals.