milliways_bar | (no subject)

"My business...it was finished. Though perhaps my presence here serves as a judgement." His final deeds weigh on him. Not constantly. But frequently. "What do you think has brought you here, monsieur?"

"Hm..." He tips his head to the side as he considers. "Judgement would imply some sort of morality to this place, and aside from the basic rules--which amount to 'don't make trouble if you don't want trouble,' in essence--I've never noticed any kind of moral code."

He smiles faintly at the man's next question. "That, I am still in the process of discovering."

Poirot doesn't feel he should explain to a stranger that he suspects he's in Limbo for his last acts. He isn't sure he wants to tell anyone here what he did. (It was hard enough leaving an explanation for Hastings to read in six months.)

"How long have you been here? And are you able to leave?"

"At home, it's been over a year. I do leave. I've never been held here."

He's grateful for that.

"It's not a perfect theory," he adds. "For every one person I know who has the bar as a place of refuge, there's another for whom it is merely a place to play."

"I have not met enough people yet to know which is the normal course of events.

"Though I have met the most fascinating people. An actual cowboy, some sort of ancient warrior and a female soldier. So very interesting." And also some sort of elf or dwarf that he cannot comprehend in the least.

Sherlock nods, looking fond. "And you'll meet all sorts of others, as well. And they come here for a drink and a chat, or because they have no friends at home but do here, or because home is dangerous and unstable and they need a place to feel safe."

"But as of yet you do not know why you come here.

"Unless it is watch others and learn why they are here." Such a pastime might be a good way to fill his time until he can figure out what he truly needs to be doing.

Sherlock shrugs. "It may be that. I've learned a great deal more about human nature than I previously understood, and that will only help with my work. I'm a consulting detective, you see."

The smile on Poirot's face is quite suddenly very bright indeed. "Ah, monsieur, you do not know to whom you talk. For I too was a detective. Hercule Poirot at your service."

"Sherlock Holmes," Sherlock replies, and holds out his hand. "It's always a pleasure to meet a fellow detective."

Well, here it is. At home it's usually just annoying.

Poirot takes Holmes's hand. "I have met many police officers and other officers of the law, but few in our specific line of work. It is not a calling many are suited for."

Sherlock gives him a brief, firm handshake. "I agree. Even people who have been trained to observe don't always understand what they see."

"Do you find it a bit frustrating to deal with the police? I am...was close with many, but the facts always seemed to elude them like a butterfly on one's nose." Inspector Japp was a fine example of a copper. And could never see beyond his nose.

"God, yes," Sherlock says fervently. "They jump to conclusions far too easily, based on too few facts."

"And then arrest the most convenient suspect because the facts fit their concept of the case. And embrace circumstantial evidence.

"It is lazy criminology at best." Malicious at worst. "But there is a reason they chose to call us in, is there not?"

[ooc: sleep time. more to come.]

"Eventually, they learn we can help."

[ooc: Good night!]

"But they still get in our way from time to time. And never quite stop taking the short cut."

"Yes," Sherlock says with a sigh, and shoves a hand through his hair. "I have found that periodically reminding my Detective-Inspector friend that he needs me helps him remember why he calls upon me in the first place. He doesn't always appreciate the reminder."

"Inspector Japp, he bristles but it is a part he plays.

"How did you come to be a detective?" Poirot has met very few. Many little more than amateurs who get in his way, or at best do the legwork.

Sherlock hesitates, then says frankly, "I'm easily bored. It's the best alternative I've found to getting high."

Poirot laughs. "The little grey cells need to be stimulated. And there is little else as effective.

"Though I must admit, long ago I was a policeman, so I should not criticize them too roundly."

"Thrill of the hunt, was it?"

"Sometimes. But the thrill of the hunt passes. I am not one for physical activity." Though he finds it interesting that he has better mobility now than he has in some years.

[ooc: more tomorrow night]

"Even a mental hunt can be thrilling," Sherlock observes. "I've solved some cases without even leaving the flat."

[ooc: Good night!]

Edited 2016-07-22 23:12 (UTC)

"I told have done that on occasion. Though more often the cases seem to find me." He couldn't go abroad without having to solve a murder mystery.