Oooh - thanks for the rec! Sorry for the delayed response - I have not been checking LJ for a bit. As is perhaps natural, I am really rather fond of my Irene, although I can understand why the Moff updated her the way he did: the position of a Victorian "adventuress" is readily analogous to the rather creepy hinterland between exploiting and being exploited which dominatrix!Irene inhabits. I have a soft spot for all the Irenes, though: ACD's original; mine; Sherlock's; and the Guy Ritchie one who is basically a Victorian Catwoman.

(I have already had ideas for an Irene-centric SH:GoS fix-it fic, by the way. It is tentatively titled "The Woman, in White".)