LIGHT THE MATCH

[diogenesis]

Who: Mycroft Holmes and ~*you*~
What: An attempt to learn about the City in the most casual way possible.
Where: The Library of Blessed St. Brian
When: Veerdi, Kavadry 3rd
Notes: This is an open post! I have certain things I want to accomplish here, planting certain seeds and so forth, but anyone should feel free to come and poke the antisocial bear.
Warnings: Spoilers for Sherlock S2E3: The Reichenbach Fall.

It has been a long three days.

When Mycroft had first appeared in the small, tiled waiting room at the Inn, his first theory had been that he was dying. Perhaps I'm already dead, he'd thought.

Even now, having had hours of solitude to think it all over, he can't rule it out—there is no absolute way to disprove the existence of an afterlife—but his memories of the moments before he'd arrived here are so clear, and he feels certain he wasn't ill or in the process of being attacked. Surely, there would have been a moment just before unconsciousness, even the smallest moment, that would have allowed him to notice a twinge of pain, a blur of movement, the feeling of disorientation, the sound of a gun going off.

But all he knows is that he blinked, and he was elsewhere.

His chair from the Diogenes Club had taken the journey with him, making the fiasco even more mysterious. Mycroft hadn't even been near the club at the time; he'd been in 10 Downing Street. He can't deny the fact that having something familiar nearby has helped, in a small way, to soothe the burn of such a sudden transition, but in the end it is a single sandbag in the face of a hurricane. Not only has Mycroft been torn away from decades of work in a job only he could do, but his brother, Sherlock, is relying on him for resources and protection more than ever after being forced to fake his own death by the late James Moriarty. Mycroft's level of worry is unspeakable. None of his usual centering techniques have helped to focus his mind. He's beginning to fray at the edges.

This is why, despite the fact that it seems dangerous to go outside what with the City's residents capable of breaking the laws of physics and performing magic (not to mention the place being some version of a police state), Mycroft is at the University's library today. Three days trapped in his own mind was too long (felt the warning signs start to creep in, too much like Sherlock, can't afford that now, have to be alert now). The order of the day is fresh air and fresh knowledge. He needs to learn more about this place, whether it's all in his mind or not.

After all, if he is in a coma, he could be here for quite a long time.

Comments

[phreak]

"And on the gripping hand?" She's been holding an uncapped whiteboard marker the whole time they've been talking, so it's with some deliberation that she caps and tucks it behind one ear.

Congratulations Mycroft, you're interesting enough.

[diogenesis]

Though he's having an increasing amount of trouble looking at her, Mycroft has enough self-control to keep blinking normally instead of closing his eyes tightly and giving them a rest the way he'd like. His posture and expression are slowly becoming more tense, however, and if one is paying close enough attention, it's noticeable.

"On the gripping hand, madam, it seems that's all gone now."

Every park trip and sedan. Having this kind of reality brought up by someone else is not what Mycroft wants right now.

"I find it largely useless to linger on such things."

[phreak]

If she recognized his distress, Alter would neither address nor apologize for it, but she might, conceivably make an effort to reduce his discomfort.

"S'what I hear. Tell me what do you wanna do instead and maybe I'll be game?"

[diogenesis]

What Mycroft would like to do instead is learn everything there is to know about the Network and other technologies unique to Baedal. He doubts he'll be able to request a complete overview so easily, and something about this woman makes him less keen than usual on attempting any sort of manipulation. It's not as though he'd know where to begin even if he tried.

Perhaps some watered-down truths will be the ticket.

"My attention was caught by your work. I've found that learning about one's surroundings is the first step toward making oneself at home, and the Network seems to be an unavoidable part of life here. Is there anything about it that would be... unwise to ignore?"

[phreak]

"Depends what you wanna use it for, right? You come from somewhere with the 'net?" Asking questions, especially the sort that have to do with security, pleases Alter and ramps up her ever present enthusiasm. With a bright grin, she starts to wipe off a part of the whiteboard, just in case she needs to draw some diagrams to better explain.