(contact post)

[enarms]

( TEXT | VIDEO | AUDIO | ACTION )

Comments

[consulting]

Respond if alive.

SH

[enarms]

Alive. Alright?

[consulting]

Decent enough to text.
Maintenance workers are human.
Can we keep one?

SH

( PRIVATE )

[consulting]

[ QUICKLY AFTER OTHER SHERLOCK'S VIDEO ]


Collar. Theory, Require logical solution.

SH

Re: ( PRIVATE )

[enarms]

Don't see what relevance it has to the message, not a prominent feature. Not part of the act? He [ you? god, he doesn't know. for now, he'll refer to them both as separate entities ] took it off while talking to me. Like an afterthought. There were dog tags, he hid them.

Honestly don't know.

( PRIVATE )

[enarms]

I'm going to meet him. Is there anything you want me to do?

[ 1/2 ]

[consulting]

Spy on him, if you'd be inclined.

SH

[ 2/2 ]

[consulting]

[ okay, so maybe - he is mycroft's brother and there's probably a million moral diatribes to asking your best friend to spy on yourself. but really. this situation, for all it is - is a unique one and he can't help it. he wants to observe. ]

Details are a prominent feature. What does that tell you about him? 'Like an after thought'.

John, I don't accessorize. I don't even wear ties. The logical presumption is that the collar is a requirement and I've been in a controlled enviornment long enough
that to be without the collar becomes an 'after thought'.
Also significance of the dog tags? They're a notion of something personal.
I'm not military, but you are. So why would I be parading around with
something of yours around my neck?

SH

➥ AUDIO | slightly backdated!

[unnatural]

[ she'd wanted to properly thank him for kind of saving her life back when the drones went on a killing spree through the city ... but he's probably been busy lately, for obvious reasons, so it didn't feel like a good time. she's waited for a better moment to bring it up, instead -- though the reason she's pinging him now is more because she's worried about how he's dealing with all of it, to be honest, even if she'll likely fit her expression of gratitude in there somewhere, too. ]

I'm not sure what's going on with Sherlock, or -- the Sherlocks, by the looks of things on the hotline, but. How are you holding up?

➥ AUDIO |

[enarms]

Ah, hi. Hold up, I'm just—

[ going to move himself safely out of earshot of any aforementioned Sherlocks. safely stowed away, John sets himself down to talk. this wasn't a conversation he'd been expecting (the end throws him off especially; How are you holding up?), and usually he's fairly decent at covering up things he doesn't need to share - but the subject matter combined with the sudden coming of the call and the caller's identity result in a slightly different response ]

Yeah. Christ, it's... [ hahahahahahaha how do i even approach this, Sherlocks ] It's fine. They're fine, more or less. I'm... Well, I'm really not getting paid enough to deal with this.

[ isn't it tragic when you can't even tell if you're joking anymore ]

➥ AUDIO |

[unnatural]

Okay. [ she figures that's what he's going to do; maybe not out of earshot of the Sherlocks in particular, but at least find a place that's more ... people-less. privacy when on the phone (radio?) is usually appreciated, if not required, and if he isn't at home (though she guesses she'd be able to tell from background noise) he'd probably like to get off the street first. if he is, away from roommates -- roommates that happen to be Sherlocks, though, if that's the case.

if he'd decided to leave his response vague when he picks the conversation back up again, she wouldn't have pushed further than possibly assuring him that he didn't have to, but he doesn't, and it's a relief to her. because well - she guesses it's likely one for him, as well. ]

No. I didn't really know the first one, not more than you can know someone from hotline appearances and ... half a conversation, but I can imagine that having two of them around would be pretty draining. Even if they're your friends.

[ having two of anyone around would probably be confusing and headache-inducing (stuff down in Rapture have a tendency to be) and she remembers finding David's head just after arriving well enough. it wasn't Erik's head, sure, but if she found it jarring to come across a (beheaded) lookalike, meeting a second copy of someone can hardly be any easier. ]

Are they both staying with you?

NIGHT AFTER JIM THREADDD | ACTION ACTION ACTIIIOOOON

[consulting]

[ Sherlock is reclined back on the sofa, his feet curled up under him. They haven't spoken about it since the hospital and his meeting with Wichita. He's still shaking slightly. All this water reminds him of the pool. But he's out of the tranquility uniform, and back in whatever he'd purchased previously. Dried up and fresh from a nap. Little things, little patches of domesticity that Sherlock's forgotten about Rapture.

This is what it's like to not be constantly under threat.

The kettle he's put on finishes boiling, and the whirring sound emanates throughout the flat. Sherlock can't be bothered to move so he let's it sound out. ]

YES YES YYYYYESS

[enarms]

[ It doesn't take too long for the kettle to lift up off of its cradle and settle back down on the sideboard, followed by the chinking of crockery and the pour of water. Another couple of minutes and everything's done and ready and John appears in the living area with two cups in hand.

He pauses to drag over their little side table with a foot - narrowly avoids spilling anything - and sets both down onto it.

It's then time to straighten up and offer Sherlock a quick glance (and a brief eyebrow for good measure, habit). Thoughts of their singular armchair are abandoned quite quickly after that and he moves instead a little further down the sofa to squish himself into a space - a space which he'll fight into existence with shuffles and prods if he has to. Stretching to pull the table a little more central, John takes his tea and settles back into the sofa with an audible sigh and a sip.

Normally he'd talk, but today he lets the quiet hang. It's comfortable and warm, and somehow he feels not really his to break. ]

[consulting]

[ sherlock's shoulders relax. his whole body looses all of the tension at John's company and he settles into a sense of safety, he hasn't felt in ages. a singular trait unique to john watson. sherlock remembers his first jump. waking up to the tranquility. no one knew how to make sense of anything and sherlock honed into him like a missile. feeling invincible just because john was around and that gave him the bravado and the insurance that things would be fine. that they'd survive. it's the same feeling of relief he felt when John had first arrived in Rapture and they had a chat about old cheese left in the fridge.

( three bullets, three gunmen, three lives and three letters. )

they've gone so far since then. sherlock shuts his eyes. ]

Have I been difficult?

[ he means the other sherlock but either one works. ]

( TEXT/ACTION | WHILE RIGHT NEXT TO YOU )

[consulting]

[ Sherlock is just fiddling with both the EZWave and the Tranquility communicator, right across from you on the couch. One hand allotted per device, rapidly typing as if trying to bridge the two networks. ]

There's a distinct itch on my left shoulder blade.

SH

[ scratch it johnnnnn. :'c ]

YOU'RE AWFUL.

[enarms]

Are you not capable of

[ hang on what the hell am I doing he's sat right there. FEEL THESE DISGRUNTLED EYES BORING INTO YOU, SHERLOCK. ]

Sherlock, I'm right here. You can use your mouth.

( TEXT )

[consulting]

It's more time efficient to text.

SH

⇁ 2/9

[colubri]

[Astaroth had never intended to use the link provided by his demonic brand for frivolity. But when he sees a second John Watson appear on the network — one who appears not to recall a single thing about this city, at that — well, it's enough to spook him right out of his skin.]

John. I need you to answer me, now.

[enarms]

[ it startles John as he hears it, disorients him enough to need a couple of seconds to place it... and then everything clicks, and John frowns slightly where he sits. what could be urgent enough to warrant using the link? thinking back on the instructions he'd been given, John gathers himself and thinks ]

Asher?

[ ... why he's playing the Safe Name Game in his own thoughts is beyond him, but it's also probably the Sane Name Game, so he'll run with it ]

[colubri]

[He breathes a sigh of relief upon hearing his own alias returned to him. But that still leaves the question...]

Just checking in. [He's no longer panicked, but still tense.] There seems to be another one of you here. Recently arrived, with no memory of this place. I needed to ensure that nothing ill had become of you.

HOURS AFTER OUR RECENT BOUT OF HEART WRENCHING EMOTIONS

[consulting]

Maybe we can sedate him.

SH

CRIES

[enarms]

We're not sedating him.

[ but it's not...... an awful.......... idea........... ]

[consulting]

We can leave him with the Morans' for an hour.
I'd hate that.

SH

text;

[cons]

sherlock has been trying to get me to be a 'better criminal' for about half a year now
little does he know
i like being a blue-collar con artist

text;

[enarms]

[ hi wichita nice not-so-secret secret ]

If I were to make the assumption you're only telling me this because you've been busted, would I be too hasty?