Thread: The Deduction of Human Emotions (Dreamer- and Elise)

Joan listened to Sherlock's response carefully, and her little smile disappeared at once at the mention of suicide. For some reason, she felt as though Sherlock punched her in the stomach with that comment. Even though this imaginary plot twist that Joan suggested was completely impossible, even though she knew that a world without any crimes and sins could only exist without human beings in it, the thought of Sherlock killing herself was terrifying. Suddenly, a new scenario appeared in Joan's mind. Instead of the one she imagined as a joke, with the monkeys and the corpses on the sofa, she now imagined a whole different kind of experience. She could see herself coming home from work as usual, ready for a nice shower and a cup of tea. She could see herself coming inside the living room, and Sherlock's absence making her suspicious at once. She'd walk into the bathroom to find Sherlock in a pool of her own blood with a gun in her hand. This thought was horrifying and for some reason very realistic. What would her life look like after this? A shiver went down her spine, as though the threat was real, as though it was going to happen any moment. For a split second Joan thought that she noticed something in Sherlock's eyes. She thought that the question made Sherlock uncomfortable, and her instincts almost took control over her body. She wanted to grab Sherlock's hand, to say that she has nothing to worry about, that such reality will never occur. But Sherlock seemed to move on at once, and Joan realized that perhaps she imagined the sudden sight of emotions in Sherlock's eyes. Maybe the fact that she had a small panic attack herself made her see things that weren't really there? But she didn't manage to give it a proper thought, since Sherlock was speaking again and Joan immediately forgot about all of these worrying possibilities. She shrugged at Sherlock's answer. Well, she said, as long as you don't kill anyone just for the sake of having a case, I approve. She smiled as she looked down at her plate. Her meal was almost finished, and another thought came to her mind. The dinner. Sherlock's clothes. Everything seemed to be normal, and nothing shocking really happened. It wasn't one of her crazy experiments then, Joan would've noticed if it was. But then, what was it supposed to mean? Sherlock, she said and cleared her throat, don't get me wrong, I really like the way you look this evening. I think you're stunning and I don't mean anything bad by saying this but - why did you dress up like this? I've never seen you so... she struggled to find the right words, and when the pause was getting too long she just said so concerned about your appearance. I thought you didn't care about things like clothes and make up, since you're so rational. What's different about today? The blush appeared on Joan's face at once and she couldn't do anything about it. She was a little uncomfortable talking to Sherlock about her appearance, they never had a conversation like this before. They talked about many things, and she heard Sherlock talking about amazing theories and deduction techniques, but never about fancy clothes and nice hairdos. Once again Sherlock managed to surprise Joan with something very unexpected, only this time she did it by acting like a completely ordinary woman.