S2 finale spoilers in-thread

[searchingfordistraction]

The key to Jim's room in Milliways seems to have disappeared.

Curious, that.



[OOC: Warnings for drug addiction and abuse, consent issues, and talk of suicide.]

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[consulting_detective]

"You've split the time stream," Sherlock says.

There's a small bowl of change that gets emptied out onto the floor.

[searchingfordistraction]

The coins are everything except any currency Jim might find useful anywhere at home.

"It seemed shameful to have this place and not take advantage of it."

[consulting_detective]

"I come here to get away from John sometimes. His friends come over and get drunk and be boring."

Apparently, time doesn't freeze on the other side for him. Which means John's probably noticed him missing by now.

[searchingfordistraction]

"Tedious."

The sympathy in Jim's voice is as genuine as he's capable of. He loathes having boring people in his space.

He doesn't have guests often.

[consulting_detective]

Hopefully Sherlock's not being boring.

"I know. I like the dog, but the dog doesn't get drunk and shout at the telly over nothing."

The room has been deemed boring, so Sherlock returns to the bed.

[searchingfordistraction]

Not yet.

"I don't keep anything interesting here," he lies, twenty minutes too late for a few of his possessions.

[consulting_detective]

"Ugh. Boring."

Jim does keep one interesting thing here though, and Sherlock knows it. He just doesn't know where Jim put it.

[searchingfordistraction]

He shrugs, unconcerned with Sherlock's judgment.

"I don't use it very often," he says. "Just to change. People get so hostile when they hear the name Moriarty."

He sounds vaguely annoyed by this. He's made his peace with not being able to control the reputation his name carries here, but that hasn't made it any more convenient.

[consulting_detective]

"What name are you using?" asks Sherlock, still looking for the rest of the cocaine. "Not Rich Brook. You might be too early for that."

[searchingfordistraction]

Jim chuckles. He does like a bilingual pun.

"I switch around," he says. "Staying in one skin for too long gets boring."

[consulting_detective]

"Mmm."

Where the hell did Jim put it? He leans over him to check along the other side of the bed.

[searchingfordistraction]

"Lose something?"

Jim watches him, unmoving.

[consulting_detective]

"No. Yes. Where'd you put it?"

He's about five seconds away from searching Jim.

[searchingfordistraction]

He smiles.

"It's no fun if I tell you."

[consulting_detective]

It takes Sherlock a moment to work out all the possible meanings of this sentence.

He settles on the meaning that could be taken in a sexual context, since it's the sort he hears most often, and goes for Jim's trousers.

[searchingfordistraction]

It's in his left pocket.

No one ever said anything about a particularly unusual or creative hiding place.

[consulting_detective]

Sherlock is prepared to, well, blow Jim for more blow if he has to. It wouldn't be the first time.

"Come on," he says playfully. "Or are you going to make me find it?"

[searchingfordistraction]

"You could start with the pockets," he suggests. He hasn't moved much from his position before - on his back, hands behind his head. His tone is matter-of-fact amusement, but the faint curve to his mouth doesn't quite match.

Again: mixed messages.

[consulting_detective]

Another suspicious stare from Sherlock, but he goes for the pockets anyway. What sort of weird game is this guy playing?

Still, he finds what he's looking for, and after reaching for the mirror and playing card, he sits up on the bed.

[searchingfordistraction]

"That wasn't so hard, now, was it?" Jim murmurs.

[consulting_detective]

"I forget. You don't play by the rules."

He puts a small measure of powder on the mirror and starts cutting it with the card.

"I am skint, though. I know you said what you did. About this being a gift, but I still can't afford this."

[searchingfordistraction]

"I was bored," Jim says. "Now I'm not. You know what that's worth."

Far more than a little bag of powder.

The price will go up, of course. Eventually. Keeping Jim entertained isn't easy. But he's confident Sherlock will pay.

[consulting_detective]

"Sounds like I'm the one getting paid in this deal," Sherlock says.

He finds the rolled-up note and snorts another line, once again offering the second to Jim.

[searchingfordistraction]

Again, Jim turns him down.

"Does it? Relative value, I suppose. I never found much of it in drugs." Other than market value, of course, and even that only means anything in business transactions.

[consulting_detective]

Sherlock shrugs and does the second line as well.

And then he goes to lean back, and falls off the bed. At least he's enjoying himself?