Sometimes the Spiders come looking for You.

[sh-consulting.livejournal.com]

WHO: Sherlock Holmes (sh_consulting) and Peter Parker (incywincyhero)
WHERE: Sherlock's MAC apartment.
WHEN: Backdated a couple weeks... After this and Sherlock's meeting with Ghost.
WARNINGS: Other than two rapier wits...? Probably nothing.
SUMMARY: Peter contacted Sherlock about researching the Porter, and Sherlock arranged a meeting.
FORMAT: Prose to start, then..?

Sherlock had only been in the city a couple of weeks but his apartment already felt more than ever distinctly like him. Books, mostly garnered through flea markets and used book stores littered the room - almost all of them non-fiction, but with a startling pile of completely random ones that took up one corner, always two of each. The furniture was sparse and most looked like it had been collected from a cat lady's estate sale - none of the covers matched and Sherlock had not bothered to even pick a colour theme. There was a deep red, well-worn couch and a mustardy yellow arm chair.  The singular chair at the table was plastic and blue. The table obviously had not been used for food since he got there - instead there were a variety of papers, books, and random scrawling that took up the entire surface. On the windowed wall was a large billboard, completely covered with clippings, photographs, and hand written notes. On closer inspection it was readily apparent that all these things were about the imports - and were grouped together based on 'worlds' where Sherlock presumed they had come from. Each import had his or her or its own section of the board, and was linked to one (and in a couple cases, more than one) world via coloured yarn. One of the largest groups had the word "GOTHAM" spelled in big block letters in the middle. Most of the groupings had no such designations, other than who was linked in the group. There were also many, many people who had no links to anything, though most of them had a person or a place written below them with a question mark. Links he was making but he couldn't prove.

Spiderman's sat with a half dozen other spider people, and a few villains. Peter's sat alone. Whether this was because he had no guesses, or that Peter himself was due to arrive any minute, was unclear.

In the very middle of the board was the word "PORTER" and under it, another hand written note saying "Imagination?" which had been stuck into the board with a large hunting knife.

Sherlock was expecting Peter, so the door was unlocked and just a smidgen open - he did so hate getting up to actually let people in. He'd only been at Baker St a day, but he already almost missed Mrs Hudson. Almost.

Comments

[incywincyhero]

Although he'd managed to get the giddy schoolgirl skipping out of his system before leaving his lab at Global Dynamics, Peter wasn't entirely able to suppress his excitement as he drew closer to Sherlock Holmes' -- Sherlock Holmes' -- apartment. Since Professor Solus had been ported out he'd been feeling more than a little daunted, despite himself. He was, after all, a tinkerer at heart. Maybe he knew how to build a web-shooter out of scrap titanium and defuse a missile by feel alone, but reverse-engineer the mechanics of a sentient, superintelligent cross-dimensional transporter? One that stymied even Tony Stark? (Not that Peter had any intention of telling his ex-mentor how much he still respected his skills.) Now, at the very least, he'd have another mind to bounce ideas off of -- and what a mind!

Taking the slightly open door as an invitation, Peter rapped smartly to announce himself, then leaned halfway into the room. "Hello? It's Peter Parker..." Even as he spoke, he glanced around, eyes resting just a bit longer on the billboard than anywhere else. A little more modern than his childhood mental pictures of 221B Baker Street, but close enough in spirit.

[sh-consulting.livejournal.com]

Sherlock was standing at the window, hands clasped tightly behind his back. He turned immediately at the knock, keen grey eyes darting towards the man leaning into his apartment.

He gestured vaguely to invite the man inside.

"Mr. Parker. Please, close the door behind you."

[incywincyhero]

"You seem to be settling in pretty well, Mr. Holmes," Peter said as he did so. "How are you finding the City? From the sound of your accent, you're even further from home than I am."

Which Peter knew perfectly well, of course. But what he didn't know is what exactly Sherlock's home universe was like. He was obviously familiar with modern technology to some extent, but how much?

[sh-consulting.livejournal.com]

"Yes, well, London is quite a bit further than Queens." Obviously.

"The differences seem minimal - excluding the obvious, of course." Said with a slight motion toward the board. "We certainly weren't graced with metahumans."

He gestured towards the couch and armchair, in case Peter wanted a seat. He didn't take one, himself, his hands still clasped behind his back.

[incywincyhero]

He approached the couch, but didn't quite sit down, choosing to half-lean, half-perch on the armrest instead.

"Can't say the same myself. Sometimes I think a good half the people here are from my universe, or close enough," and he nodded at the board in turn, in the general direction of his own position.

[sh-consulting.livejournal.com]

Sherlock didn't glace back toward the board. He knew exactly where Peter's portrait was. He had suspicions but nothing that he had yet been able to prove, and he wasn't sure he really wanted to start that here, now, with Peter.

"There are a few universes... Or groups of universes... That seem to draw a disproportional amount, yes." His own place on the board was relatively sparse - links to a previous Sherlock, a previous Watson... and a crude hand drawn picture of a man he'd met once but somehow was supposed to be important to him. He pushed the unbidden thought aside.

"Obviously this has all been discerned using the publicly available comm data. I have no doubt that with more... individual inspection... I would be able to draw firmer links."

[incywincyhero]

"Well, I can't fault your dedication." For a few moments, Peter thought about filling in Sherlock's blanks for him, telling him about all the connections between the various people from his universe and the ones like it. On the other hand, it wasn't strictly necessary for Sherlock to have all the pieces together yet, and until it was Peter couldn't help but want to keep the other man as far from the machinations of his double life as possible. Sure, he had the psychic blindspot on his side, but he had no way of being sure that someone of sufficient intelligence, awareness to detail and motivation couldn't break through the protection somehow -- and the Sherlock Holmes he knew from fiction was defined by all three.

Instead, he moved to the table, backpack in tow. Seeing the lack of tabletop real estate he paused.

"Not that I want to mess up your, ah, filing system or anything," he said, turning to Sherlock, "but walking you through this stuff will be a lot easier if I can put my laptop and the files I brought with me down somewhere."

[sh-consulting.livejournal.com]

"Ah, yes, of course," He said, striding towards the table and sweeping many of the papers up and stacking them rather haphazardly on the other side of the table. He had been distracted pinpointing the exact place of origin of Peter's backpack.

"I admit I am curious as to the vein of your previous research."