happy belated birthday, sherlock ;A;

[absurdlysimple]

Well, I remembered.

This was your own folly, never keeping track of dates and whatnot--not even a proper calendar or schedule to call your own!

Comments

[solvescases]

Hardly an event worth remembering, one's day of birth.

[absurdlysimple]

Perhaps not for you. You [or, rather, his version of Holmes] were never one for remembering anniversaries, save for the ones relevant to cases or other sorts of investigations.

[Even so, Watson cracks a smile.] It's a tad late, but I still hope, whether or not you chose to celebrate it, that you had a pleasant birthday.

[solvescases]

Cases and investigations are the only relevant facts worth remembering. [Hm, Watson with a mustache. He might be staring inspecting it for awhile.]

Which day was it? [Sherlock doesn't even bother to remember the date.]

[absurdlysimple]

[A light chuckle.] Where I am from, you've made excellent use of cards to collect these irrelevant dates. [Never mind that Watson is the one who spends most of the time organizing it, but hey.]

Why, just yesterday. January 6.

[solvescases]

Was it? [Sherlock shrugs it off as if it was nothing.] Just another day. There was a forger that turned up... [He must have been working that day.]

[absurdlysimple]

[SIGH. Holmes is Holmes, he supposes. Maybe this one's Watson couldn't talk him into birthday festivities either.]

Mmm... A case, then? Could I trouble you for the details?

[solvescases]

[Ironically, the mun keeps two versions of Holmes AND a Watson in her one brain. And no, this Watson didn't have any luck either.]

The details of the case? [tenting his fingers together thoughtfully] Something to go into your writings...though I suppose it won't be a blog.

[absurdlysimple]

A blog? Do you mean that small screen that you keep in your pocket? [By which he means the phone that a Sherlock had pulled up John's blog on and showed him.]

Not this time, I'm afraid. Were I to write about it, I would much rather have been there to witness it myself. I'm simply curious as to how you're getting along, my good man.

[solvescases]

No, that would be a cellphone. [What can he say? Sherlock is addicted to texting.]

I'm well enough. Better when there's case work. [Less when there's not.]

[He pauses though] ...and yourself? [It may not be his Watson, but still. One of the first friends that could stand his company, he can't have changed that much.]

[absurdlysimple]

Ah. Right. [Filing that info away for later: blogs accessible by cellphone. Wait until he needs to have the internet explained to him.]

I wouldn't expect any less from you. [Some things never change, after all.]

Well, we've our own cases to attend to, of course. [He doesn't mention how frequent--or infrequent, rather--they've become. The ones he tags along on, in any case.] My practice is busy this time of year. Mary sends her love, as well.

[solvescases]

[Well, maybe his Watson could give it a shot, they might understand each other better.]

Mary.... [Sherlock saying it as if he was dissecting the name.] Not your sister. Your wife? [Now that's different.]

[absurdlysimple]

[Watson teaching Watson how to use the computer! It'd end better than Sherlock doing it, that's for sure.

Watson blinks, puzzled.]

Yes, it's already been a--wait.

...Have I--has he not yet married? [Where's this universe's Mary, then?]

[solvescases]

[Did Sherlock just smirk?] So I'm right, it is your wife?

He is still a bachelor. Dating, yes. [Appalling taste in women, if you ask Sherlock] Married, no.

[absurdlysimple]

Precisely.

[Well, that's... certainly different, too. Not even married once?]

Hmm... Whatever could be taking the chap so long?

[solvescases]

He won't get anywhere with the women he brings home. [unimpressed] One brain cell between them at most.

How did you meet her? [Uh oh, would Sherlock be asking for ulterior motives?]

[absurdlysimple]

I'm sure it cannot be so bad. [He's a bit miffed. Come on, his taste--sort of his taste--is definitely not that bad.]

[Based on his own Holmes' meddling and complaints about his marriage? He is not taking this risk and screwing it up for his other self. DEFLECT.]

And I'm certain that however he will meet her will be in an entirely different way.

[solvescases]

[It's probably not Watson's taste, Sherlock just doesn't care for any of them.]

Not necessarily. [Good catch, other-Watson] You're both army doctors, both served in Afghanistan, both rooming with one consulting detective Sherlock Holmes. [Testing a theory] Introduced by an old college friend? Stamford?

[absurdlysimple]

I--

[Damn, he's absolutely right.]

--but! If your Watson has yet to marry, and you've never heard of a Mary until I mentioned her just now, in spite of encountering other women associated with him, the progression of logic must be that Mary will not come into his life in the same way as she did mine.

[Take THAT, Sherlock. He's so, so very proud of himself.]

[solvescases]

[He won't admit it...but Sherlock is secretly proud of him too.]

Not probable but not impossible. Only eliminate the impossible.

Did you meet her through association with myself? On a case, perhaps? [He's still seeing if he can glean more information.]

[absurdlysimple]

[It's good enough for him!]

Exactly right. She had been a client of ours, in fact.

[Watson figures that's safe enough. Mary's a common enough name, after all.]

[solvescases]

[Not even the mun knows if Mary will turn up in this Sherlock's universe.]

Interesting. Occupation? [Of Mary, that is. Sherlock can't deduce without her being here, so John has an advantage.]

[absurdlysimple]

A governess.

[Watson's got no idea that the occupation's largely obsolete by Sherlock's time. For him, however, it's such a common profession that it still feels vague enough to pass.]

[solvescases]

Hm. Old-fashioned, I suppose. [Interesting word though. Governess, not nanny or sitter.] A teacher then?

[absurdlysimple]

Not excessively so. You like her, in your own way, at the very least.

[Watson pauses to think that over.]

I suppose that could be one option... though, given that things are almost sure to be different, she could have any sort of occupation.

[solvescases]

Indeed. [Sherlock gives him a narrow look.] You like her? [No, he is not asking if you love her.]

[absurdlysimple]

[His expression softens; Watson does his very best not to gush.]

Very much so, Holmes. We're quite happy.

[And will be for another year or two, at least. While Mary's health lasts.]

[solvescases]

[Wow, Watson's telling the truth. Sherlock actually tries not to look disappointed. Because he knows what John being married means, it means he moves out.] I see.

She must be good for you. [John was in good health, appeared happy, content. It wasn't a difficult or stressful marriage by any means, Holmes can see that.]

[absurdlysimple]

[It's easy--far too easy--to pick out the tinge of disappointment in his voice. Sherlock Holmes is, in the end, Sherlock Holmes.

And he misses Baker Street, and Holmes, far more than he is willing to admit these days.]

Mary's lovely. [And, quickly, to reassure him, he adds--] You're fine, too, Holmes. You're nearly always halfway through some new case.

[With or without me.]

<3's your Watson so much

[solvescases]

Of course I am. [DENIAL] Married to my work.

[Where would he be without his blogger though? John is probably his best and only friend in the world.]

Did your...Holmes...go after the serial suicide killer?

ahhh thank you!! ;u; i've been worried about him, this is wonderful to hear

[absurdlysimple]

[With a shrug and a grin, he replies--] As ever, really.

[The smile fades into an expression of concern, then; he hasn't quite run into anything of the sort. He isn't sure whether it's a 'yet', or some other odd deviance. He's sure they can take whatever adventure is thrown their way, but it still worries him.]

Serial suicide? [That doesn't make much sense.] Do you mean some sort of suicide pact?

he is wonderful and perfect and adorable, I may have to toss my own watson at him

[solvescases]

Nothing that simple. [As if a suicide pact would be simple.]

The victims were found dead, all of them having taken the same drug, the same pill bottle found at their side. None of them related to each other in any way, shape, or form.

i always approve of watson parties

[absurdlysimple]

How positively bizarre!

[He is intrigued to death.]

This is where the serial suicide killer comes into play, does he not?

parties: read 'support groups' :)

[solvescases]

[Sherlock knew he would be interested. He was positively thrilled himself when he acquired the case.]

Indeed he does. Three people all killing themselves the exact same way? Not a coincidence. But he didn't count on one of them giving away his location. He kept her phone and she wrote the password to it's GPS locator on the floor before she died.

yyyyep, right on the money

[absurdlysimple]

[The technical details are entirely lost on him--as in, he has no clue what a gee-pee-ess locator is. As always, he'll try to keep up as best as he can in spite of it.

This sounds vaguely familiar to him, though. Words written on floors--or, for him, walls, maybe...?]

Yes? And who was the culprit, in the end?

[solvescases]

[There's an excited glint in Sherlock's eyes as he's relaying this story. As if he was reliving the case.]

Someone no one would look twice at. The cab driver. Forcing them to take the pills while he took one from another bottle. [Sort of sick version of Russian roulette.]

He might have gotten away with it too... [A look to Watson] ...if it hadn't been for a certain straight shooter with an army revolver.

:3 and mun going to bed after this, apologies

[flatmatewatson]

So....

Someone said you needed help with your computer or something? [Nobody tells John anything. He just shows up and helps out.]