031 || written/dictated;

[workaphilic]

[ Anyone Who Has Left and Returned with Memories ]

[He thinks on this filter for a long time. (Whether he should keep himself anonymous or not, whether it's even worthwhile in the grand scheme of things.) But eventually, he writes:]

I have questions, if you're willing to answer.

SH

----

[ Anyone Who Has Experienced a 'Trip Home', excluding John Watson ]

I'd like to compare notes, as it were. Provided you're amenable.

SH

----

[Some time later, he'll dictate to the castle at large. There's not much energy in him today; he sounds worn out.]

Give me recipes, residents. Your favorites from your home world, I don't care.

Unless you're from Earth, in which case, don't bother.

Comments

[save_the_souls]

[a pause]

No, I've never lost any memories here beyond natural forgetting.

[workaphilic]

And your home memories, they were all in line? During your later trips, you didn't have any problems recalling memories from earlier ones?

[save_the_souls]

None. It was as if I never left.

[workaphilic]

[There's a small thump of his pen being dropped against the page, and the wheels of a chair being rolled across hardwood. He starts talking, but it's pretty clear he's talking to himself.]

Ridiculous. [The chair rolls back, and then there's a rush of flipping pages.] Memory isn't a switch you flick off and on at your leisure.

[save_the_souls]

It is when you're a magic castle extremely skilled at concealing yourself from the rest of the universes.

[workaphilic]

That isn't good enough. [Even if it's in line with everything he experienced himself.] Magic, yes, but perfection, never, especially not with the amount of variables in play. There must be a side-effect somewhere.

[save_the_souls]

Well if there is, it's not with the trips home. There was nothing odd about my memories back home- I didn't even have the scars that I've acquired here.

[workaphilic]

[A pause. The rustling stops.]

Not a single one? You're positive.

[save_the_souls]

Yes, positive. I would've noticed scars that I had no memory of receiving.

[workaphilic]

Even a small one?

[save_the_souls]

[...]

...No. I suppose if it was very small, I might overlook it.

[workaphilic]

Do you have a scar small enough not to be noticed?

[save_the_souls]

I don't know, I'd have to look later. [You know when I'm not in front of an entire group of campers.....]

[workaphilic]

[An exasperated groan.]

It can't take thirty seconds, step behind a tree or something.

[save_the_souls]

It'd dark out! What do you want me to do, hold a lantern with my teeth as I check?!

It's not like I'll be going home anytime soon.

[workaphilic]

It's important. Not going to have you wander off and forget when the answer could be significant to my research.

[Yeah, research.]

I don't care if you have to gather glow worms to do it, just do it.

[save_the_souls]

[Yeah, no he's not buying it. Allen is not Sherlock smart, but he's not an idiot]

What research? Why are you asking all this?

[workaphilic]

[The real reasons behind this are getting out to no one, as far as he's concerned. It's not safe.]

I'm bored, haven't you heard? And since no one seems to be interested in killing anyone lately, I've had to make do with the next best thing.

The alternative is to sit here and try to not scratch my own eyes out, so if you'd be so kind....

[The best cover stories are the ones that are still technically true, after all.]

[save_the_souls]

If it was simply a case of boredom, why did you filter from Dr. Watson?

[That's right. He's calling bullshit]

[ Allen Walker ]

[workaphilic]

[Fine you want to play that way? Let's play.]

It's not a conversation I want to have with John, nor one he wants to have with me.

It is nowhere near your concern.

[Sherlock Holmes]

[save_the_souls]

It is if you want me to be a subject for your "research".

Does this have to do with the time he was sent home?

[ Allen Walker ]

[workaphilic]

[He's silent for a long, long moment. When he does finally speak, it's with derision slathered on in layers.]

Not him. Us.

The experience was less than pleasant.

[Sherlock Holmes]

[save_the_souls]

[Yeah, he's sure faking your death is rough buddy, but he'll bite his tongue]

So are there memories that don't match up? Or missing parts?

[ Allen Walker ]

[workaphilic]

[those fucking books he dreams of the day he can pile them all on a beach, light them on fire, and make s'mores on them.]

No. Nothing of the sort.

[Sherlock Holmes]

[save_the_souls]

[Sadly it was more you not trolling him all summer that was the giveaway than the books. #trollbait problems ]

Then what's with all this?