holmestice | Treat for Sanspatronymic: I Am the Girl for Her: Double Portrait

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Title: I Am the Girl for Her: Double Portrait
Recipient:

sanspatronymic
Artist:

rachelindeed
Verse: I Am the Girl for Her (an ACD genderswap by sanspatronymic)
Characters/Pairings: Shirley Holmes/Jane Watson
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Summary: Illustrations inspired by sanspatronymic's wonderful fic!

"In the light of the fireplace, the angles of her face—her high cheekbones, the curve of her nose—sharpened and had given her a regal look, which reminded me for all the world of the portrait of Caesar Augustus which had decorated my copy of Suetonius. What fit occupation was there, I wondered, for this Lady Caesar in our modern world?"

"Nevertheless, as we shared quarters, a sort of quiet intimacy grew between us. Though I sometimes protested the smell of chemicals and tobacco, we got on quite well together, and as she was often awake when I returned from the hospital, we fell into a habit of chatting before bed."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sanspatronymic

EEEEEEE!!!! A treat for me? A treat for ME? What an unexpected delight! And what a delight it is! Ah--I love these girls, and it's so nice to see them in the flesh. Thank you, kind and generous mystery-artist, for so lovingly rendering these two.

I love Jane's utterly besotted expression--exactly on the money, there. If a person could really be said to have 'heart eyes' it's Jane Watson looking at Shirley Holmes. And Shirley! She's really rather beautiful, isn't she? I confess when I wrote that Caesar bit, I wasn't exactly sure how that all fit into a Victorian lady, and I didn't really have a clear mental image of her, but here she is, for certain. Very easy to see how Jane would commit herself to that noble visage! I adore the background work you did here. Like elegant wallpaper. Thank you again!

And as a treat for you, for choosing one of my favorite fics, here is a bit from a future chapter (coming someday!) that I don't believe I've ever shared before:

“Stop it!” I cried, “I’m ordered about all day by doctors and patients alike; don’t you start too. I won’t stand for it!”

The words had hardly escaped my lips before hers were pressed against them. She kissed me, hard and sure. When she pulled away from me, the kiss lingered there for a moment, as if etched. I blinked at Shirley, my mind trapped somewhere between anger and affection.

“What was that for?”

“An apology. You’re right; I don’t deserve to give you orders.”

“An apology?”

“Well, a selfish one."

She smiled at me, and once again I felt a shiver run along my spine, but now I could at last
give it a name.

“Well, Jane, what say you? Will you plunge with me into unknown dangers?”

“Give me that,” I said, seizing the rifle by way of answering. “You’ve loaded it wrong.”

From:

rachelindeed

OMG, I LOVE THAT EXCERPT SO MUCH! The kiss like an etching, the selfish apology, give me that rifle you damn fool, it's too good! I so look forward to reading more about this pair!!

I'm really glad you enjoyed the drawings. Those passages quoted here as captions came across so vividly when I read the fic that I wanted to go hunting for images to match. I based Holmes on Claudia Black, who is quite beautiful and with that angular, regal profile you described :)

Jane is based on Merle Oberon, who was Anglo-Indian. That was also the inspiration for the paisley stencil pattern in the backgrounds, which I learned from SCFrankles's research originated as an Indian design and became ubiquitous in Britain.

I was sorry that I couldn't write a story for you as well; that's just not where my muse was headed this round. But I have to admit, I've thought repeatedly about that Anglo-Indian Watson prompt, and I've been particularly struck by the thought that Watson would have been about seven years old when the Sepoy Mutiny broke out, and Harry maybe ten or eleven? I can't help wondering whether that might have worked a sea-change in their childhood if their family were first or second-generation Anglo-Indians living in Britain. I hope at some point the idea grows beyond musing and into a real story -- if it does, I will write it for you :)

From:

sanspatronymic

I got two glorious presents from you in one round; you certainly shouldn't feel bad about not having made it three! Muse go where they want to go, and yours went some very lovely places, indeed.

I, too, am still fascinated with this idea of Anglo-Indian Watson! About the two brothers being perceived differently and/or affected differently by people's changing attitudes around the Mutiny years.. I've also been thinking about Watson during his army career. Maybe he sets out hopeful that seeing the Raj would make some part of him 'make sense' or that he might feel innately in tune with the land/culture/food/people because of his background, only to arrive there and realize it doesn't actually work that way. Does he have any memories of his grandmother? Did she ever make sticky, sweet jalebi for her grandsons? Was their heritage something everyone knew, or something not talked about (and did this change as attitudes changed?)? Ah.. so many questions. I should love to read some of your answers to them someday, muse willing!

From:

write_out

Fantastic! I'm not wholly familiar with this 'verse, but I really like how you've brought it to life. Very pretty colors!

ETA: OH LORD. How embarrassing. I completely misread the ACD Genderswap bit and assumed this was another 'verse (what's that saying about assuming??). Holmes would be APPALLED at my lack of observation, wouldn't she?

Edited Date: 2019-06-19 12:25 am (UTC)

From:

rachelindeed

Thank you so much! I had fun choosing the colors and I'm delighted you liked these little sketches :)

(And no need to be embarrassed! Heaven knows we've got enough obscure adaptations in Holmestice that it would have made perfect sense for this to be another one of them!)