[PG-ish] All in good fun, and mildly suggestive.

Introduction

An amazing off-the-top-of-her-head story from Jin, speculating on Holmes's dressing gowns and the idea of Holmes and Watson sharing clothes.

Mine!

(the origin of the purple dressing gown)

by Jin Katkin

Notes

terrier

Canonically, Victor Trevor's pet terrier bit Holmes's ankle on his way to chapel in GLOR, thereby starting Holmes and Trevor's acquaintance in college (pre-Watson). For the explanation for the tears of Holmes's dressing gown, see the "wrangle" over this in the Comments below.

haemoglobin

Watson meets Holmes in the middle of Holmes's successful tests on haemoglobin (a component of blood) in STUD

belt

What about the belt? Jin only answers by quoting Tom Lehrer, "Filth, I'm glad to say, is in the mind of the beholder." Imagine what you will.

Comments

Now there's a guestbook from which I will copy the comments on the slash fiction. Sample comments would look like this:

• [Author]; [subject]; [date]
  [message text]

1. Cress; [Editor's original Note on the terrier]; April 1999
   Holmes's dialogue here suggests a somewhat more intimate connection [with Victor Trevor], which may explain what Holmes was doing wearing his dressing gown at the time of these strange tears...
2. Jin Katkin; Mine! notes; 26 April 1999
   Oh, no. Oh, no. I didn't even realize about the terrier--dressing gown-- no! No! I was thinking that, you know, Holmes lounges around in his dressing gown even when he isn't convalescent, and Trever was a decent chap and came over often while Holmes was healing, but you--you-- Bad image! Bad! (g) Jin, awed at the minds she's been coming into contact with lately...
3. Cress; [reply]; 28 April 1999
   I did see your guestbook entry, but now I'm wondering what exactly could be meant by the phrase "Victor Trevor's terror (-blank-)" Why would Holmes stumble over this if it weren't in some way naughty? There's no reason for him to have trouble saying "terrier" here.
4. Jin Katkin; [reply]; 28 April 1999
   It wasn't exactly naughty, Cress. He was just expressing his feelings about the evil little dog that attacked him, and disguising it under the guise of slip-of-tongue. I don't know what you mean but terror (-blank-). Wasn't it along the lines of "...terror--I mean, terrior"?
5. Cress; Re: Victor Trevor; 29 April 1999
   Now about "Victor Trevor's terror--" I suppose you guys will still think that I've got an overboard, overimaginative mind, but it's part of what makes me write these H/W stories, so I guess you'll just have to consider it a cute quirk of my personality.
         [quotes Jin's message]
         The (-blank-) is me waiting for the words that are supposed to complete the sentence, before Holmes re-starts it with "--I mean, terrier."
         So I suppose what you meant was that he was going to say, "Victor Trevor's terror of a dog" meaning "terrible dog" or "annoying dog", or as you say, "evil little dog", and I guess I would have picked up on that more easily if it had actually said "terrible".
         However, I keep thinking, "yeah, but why would Holmes not just say 'terror of a dog' or any other alternative?" Why would he stumble and stop, then say, "I mean, terrier"? He's talking to Watson, not to Victor Trevor, so he doesn't have to be nice and pretend he likes Trevor's dog. Watson knows Holmes was bitten, so he won't feel personally offended for his (Watson's) own dog--the bull-pup.
         What the line sounded like to me was approximately this: "Those tears are from Victor Trevor's terror (habit of yanking at my dressing gown/doing something naughty/whatever) or terror (passion for teasing me when we were fooling around, etc.)--I mean, terrier. (His terrier--yeah, that's it. It was just the dog that did that to my dressing gown. No need to get into any more detail in front of Watson.)"
         I hope you guys understand that sentence! The parentheses are just my random speculation, helped along by the suggestion that Holmes and Watson had recently done something to completely wear away the belt.
         This was also partially because I remembered that in the story, Holmes said he had been bitten by Trevor's dog while he was *outside*, *fully dressed*, and walking on the way to chapel. And I thought, "hey, why would Trevor ever visit Holmes at home, in his dressing gown, and bring the dog along again? Trevor would know that Holmes didn't want the dog there, and he would be courteous enough not to bring the dog. So that just leaves Trevor alone with Holmes in his dressing gown, and Jin's telling me that something happened to cause tears in his dressing gown, and Holmes is stumbling over his words, and he seems to be hiding *something*..."
         Am I completely nuts, or did anybody else read Jin's "Mine!" story like this too?
         Anyway, Jin, if you want me too, I'll change the story Note, and just put my dirty little theory as a mere comment at the end, with your replying comment that the line about Victor Trevor was not intended to be naughty. Would that do?
6. Jin Katkin; Re: Victor Trevor; 29 April 1999
   [quotes Cress's 4th paragraph about Watson not being personally offended about the dog]
         I don't think he'd feel personally offended, and I don't think Holmes would feel that he had to be nice, exactly, but what's the good in talking about a wrong someone's done you unless you've gotten them back or have plans and/or fantasies about doing so? And, I mean, c'mon. It's a dog. A small dog. Where's the glory or the grudge there? Where's the potential for aweing Watson in 'My friend's dog took a dislike to me?" No. Better by far to make a brief dig for sympathy and then be gracious.
         [quotes Cress's 7th paragraph about Victor Trevor being alone with Holmes]
         Ahem.
         "It was a prosaic way of forming a friendship, but it was effective. I was laid by the heels for the first ten days, and Trevor used to come in to inquire after me. At first it was only a minute's chat, but but soon his vissits lengthened, and before the end of the term we were close friends. He was... the very opposite to me in most respects... Finally he invited me down to his father's place at Donnithorpe, and I accepted his hospitality for a month of the long vacation."
         Now, Cress, I'm sure you'll manage to find something naughty in Trever's taking him home, but I'd rather not go there, thanks s'much. I'd rather set Holmes up with Stamford than Trevor, because the circumstances leading to such a pairing would be so pitiable; independant as Holmes is, he must have been dashed lonely.
         In any case, even if Trevor had the sensitivity to not bring the dog 'round when visiting, he would have had to bring him home. And Holmes is well-known for lounging about in dressing-gowns, which are perfectly respectable items of indoor apparel.
         Yes, gentles, you guess correctly: Jin just found the etiquette section of her library, and a pathetic one it is, too...
         [quotes Cress's comment about editing the story Note]
         As you like. You might want to include the quote, though, that both our arguments might be ably represented.
         Jin, happy and proud at the wrangle over a mere sentance of hers.