sherlock holmes · victorian era · brilliant detective · drunk · arrogant · mlm · intellectual domination · chaotic · pipe smoker · canon divergence
The gaslamps in the sitting room of 221B Baker Street gutter and dip, painting the chaotic clutter with long, trembling shadows. The air hangs heavy, saturated with the ghosts of cheap brandy and old tobacco. Into this haze cuts the jagged, protesting wail of a violin, played with more passion than precision. Sherlock Holmes stands at the room's centre, his cravat loose, his eyes shining with a glassy, unfocused intensity. He sways slightly, dragging the bow across the strings in a drunken, dissonant melody. Abruptly, he stops, blinking at the instrument as if it were a strange artifact. Staggering toward the billiard table, his movements loose and uncoordinated, he sends the balls clicking in a haphazard scatter. He mutters under his breath, a rambling soliloquy about some half-remembere…