001

[paradisamods]

[And, quite suddenly...

You're holding your journal. If you already were holding it, congratulations. If you weren't... you are now! Somebody wants your attention.

And get this: it's empty.

The old one's kicking around somewhere, but for now, look at what Paradisa gave you!]

Comments

[confidente]

Careful, people might start to think you're full of yourself.

[workaphilic]

Nothing wrong with a bit of pride in one's own work, is there?

[John's journal seems to be enough to get him to abandon the search for now, though, because he dumps himself on the sofa to paw through it. At least he's calmed down a bit?]

[confidente]

Not at all. [ A beat. ] You just take it to an obnoxious extreme.

[workaphilic]

I prefer to think of it as "being honest."

[confidente]

I think you're confusing honesty with being a smartass.

[workaphilic]

[he shrugs!]

Not much of a difference, is there? Just depends on whether or not people want to hear it.

[confidente]

[ John laughs and shakes his head. ]

People never want to hear it.

Found anything yet?

[workaphilic]

[He's studying a particular page very closely, now; his nose is quite literally in the book.]

Possibly.

[confidente]

Care to share with the rest of us? Or is our malevolent host preventing you from doing that?

[workaphilic]

[He pauses, considering. Eh, he probably has the patience to talk around this one.]

Can't properly confirm without my own journal for comparison, but as far as I can tell, nothing is missing. All the filters, all the data. [He rubs his thumb over the page.] Even the spills are perfectly preserved.

[confidente]

[ Don't lick it. :| Please don't. ]

So there is nothing seemingly wrong with it?

[workaphilic]

Apparently not. As I said, though, still need to confirm.

[What? He's just sniffing! He's not so far gone that he'd -- oh wait no yeah he's licking it. Sorry, bro. 8)]

Nothing special about the last few entries, either. To someone unfamiliar with the journals, it might appear like this one simply ran out of pages. And yet. [He holds up the new journal, pointedly. It's like the old one was faulty and needed a replacement or something.]

[confidente]

Aw--did you have to lick it? [ WORST BEST FRIEND. ]

And yet for some the castle replaced it with a brand new book that, as far as we can tell, is in no way different from the old one.

[workaphilic]

[Sherlock just gives him a Look. "Yes of course I did, why even ask such a stupid question?"]

I'll need to find out if the new one really does have all the same properties as the old one. Could help us start to cut down the list of possible reasons for replacing it.

[confidente]

[ That's his book god dammit. ]

Well you're not using mine.

[workaphilic]

[He actually looks kind of put-out.]

What? Why not? It isn't as if you're using it for anything.

[confidente]

Because it's mine and I'd rather not have to subjected to endless experiments.

[workaphilic]

Well, I can't use mine. There are notes I need to keep.

[confidente]

Looks like you've got yourself a bit of a problem then.

[workaphilic]

[He's flipping through the journal again, squinting like that'll somehow let him see something that he didn't see before.]

What's so important that you need to save? If you needed to look up something public you could always just use mine.

[confidente]

Maybe I just don't like having my belongings tampered with without my consent.

[workaphilic]

I warned you in advance.

[Because "getting found out before he can try anything" counts as "warning in advance" apparently.]

[confidente]

No you didn't.

[workaphilic]

[Scowl. Splitting hairs, as far as he's concerned.]

Fine. What if I enumerate anything I plan to do to it at least [a beat to think] half an hour before I do? Would that be satisfactory?

[confidente]

You're not going to take a flat out no, are you? [ Of course he isn't. A sigh. ] I guess it'll have to do.