#001; text

[could_be_dangerous]

In light of recent events it seems apt that I make an advertisement offering my services to the general public. I am Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective, amply acquainted with the solution of murders, thefts, arsons, and the generally unsavoury, etc. Inquiries of a general nature may be directed to me at any time, though I take cases at my own discretion, and will generally request an interview to establish both the particulars and the legitimacy of the case. The suspicious may refer to Dr. John Watson for a no-doubt superfluously effusive list of my general accomplishments, and when he proves unconvincing I should be delighted to provide a demonstration of my capabilities. In what will no doubt be vastly more appealing than any of the previous to some of you, I shall add that all services will be rendered entirely gratis.

((ooc: Permissions post/opt-out here, for anything you'd rather Sherlock not pick up on. Additionally, there may be some threadjacking here and there by the aforementioned Dr. Watson since it is his lot in life to babysit this gigantic infant, and if anyone would like to address him instead of Sherlock they can note as much in their subject lines.))

Comments

[rathercommon]

[ Her brows come together a little bit. ]

Being exploitative?

[could_be_dangerous]

I use other people's misfortune to my own benefit, of course I'm being exploitative. I just have no intention of harming them. As I said, not entirely wrong.

[rathercommon]

[ She purses her lips at him. ]

Well, then it's a little funny to get angry with me for accusing you of it, isn't it? Even if I was suspecting you of worse motives than you have.

[ But even so, a moment later, she shakes her head and says: ]

I am sorry for accusing you right out. I ought to have been more tactful. I'm sorry.

[could_be_dangerous]

[Now that is offensive. Sherlock wrinkles his nose.]

Please. Tact is a waste of time and apologies are nearly as bad. I object to the comparison because the most reprehensible creatures I've ever known were blackmailers, and as one of the best was a garroter I suppose it's fair to say my standards aren't high.

[rathercommon]

[ She gives an incredulous, uncertain little smile. ]

Sorry. The worst were blackmailers? I should think there's quite a lot of things people can do that are much worse than blackmail.

[could_be_dangerous]

The world is rarely as straightforward as people would like to believe. Clearly you aren't familiar with Charles Augustus Magnussen. Newspaper magnate. Also very much in the business of acquiring the secrets of the wealthy and powerful, by which he pulled the strings of dozens of highly-ranked officials worldwide. Notoriously difficult to catch because his choice of victims ensured his own protection by virtue of their power, when they didn't kill themselves outright. Billy Kincaid the garroter might have strangled a few people to death but he never made them feel so hopeless as to encourage them to do themselves in. That and the massive and entirely undisclosed donations to charity made him rather a better person than the strangling deaths might otherwise incline you to believe. Very charming also. Perfectly polite.

[He presses his lips together and raises his eyebrows, shrugging. What can you do?]

I would estimate that Magnussen's body count was in the hundreds, speaking conservatively, due to his tendency to meddle in international affairs alone. He found it funny, being able to do whatever he liked to whomever he liked, and he knew that he could because he knew that regardless of the facts, whatever he chose to publish would be read and absorbed and believed by millions. Newspapers are good as gospel.

[rathercommon]

[ She gives a little shrug. ]

I've known plenty with much higher body counts than that. The average army recruiter, for one. Or the head of police. Or our Prime Minister. I don't see much wrong with the sort of man who'd target those sorts of people. Nothing wrong with making the wealthy and powerful afraid.

[ But that's...glib. She gives a little sigh, shakes her head: ]

I see your point, I guess. Blackmail can be awful. All right.

[could_be_dangerous]

One of his favourite games was played more often with his secretary than the rich and powerful. He liked to force her to try to keep her eyes open while he flicked them. Wealth and power were a means to an end, not a motive. He kept, he told me, a list of pressure points for everyone he met, to be used in the circumstance he should need something... or want something, or find himself sufficiently bored. I never did find out what all of mine were.

[There the point of divergence and there the reason he objects -- Sherlock works at avoiding cruelty when he's bored, however often he fails. Magnussen had embraced it, elevated it to machinery, an art form. His achievement was impressive; no denying that. All the same, Sherlock has spent enough of his time trying to be a person to know what it's like to be forced to be something one is not. There has been enough isolation, enough hopelessness that he recoils at the willing and gleeful imposition of it upon others.]

I'm intimately acquainted with the failings of the police and of governments. Rarely do the individuals comprising them present the same knowing sadism; theirs are mostly crimes of ignorance.

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty scoffs the scoff of a girl whose first act of high treason came before her first kiss. ...which is a comment on the treason, not a comment on her ability to find a boy to kiss thank you very much. ]

If you think that, you must not know them that well, then.

[could_be_dangerous]

As well as anyone knows his brother. He, incidentally, is the exception. Not an idiot. Actively malicious? If you feel like being overly dramatic, yes. I generally do.

[rathercommon]

You generally do...feel like being dramatic?