open post version 2.

[docwithablog]

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Comments

[docwithablog]

Come on, your sense of childhood wonderment wasn't lost, you find it again every time you do some new chemistry experiment.

[acutereasoner]

True enough - though now I'm forced to question the wisdom of granting a child unsupervised access to a variety of caustic chemicals.

[docwithablog]

Not just any child's been endowed with your massive intellect. You'd probably have known how to handle that stuff when you were a toddler. Someone should have swapped your rattle.

[acutereasoner]

John, are you under the impression that my powers of reasoning have always been as they are now?

[That's adorable. Also a terrifying thought to consider - a toddler with his intellect would be impossible to live with.]

[docwithablog]

I'm under the impression that you were a horror back then, too. So, yes?

[acutereasoner]

Contrary to popular belief, genius takes quite a lot of effort. Mycroft and I may have a talent for observation, but logical inference and deductive reasoning are skills one acquires through dedicated practice.

Why do you suppose I'm always asking you to employ my methods? To have a laugh at your expense?

[docwithablog]

Is that a trick question? Because the answer is yes again.

1/2

[acutereasoner]

You're serious.

[It's not a question, more an incredulous statement of fact which, if spoken out loud, would have had the upwards inflection typically indicative of a question.]

2/2

[acutereasoner]

John, I ask for your input because I value it. I ask you to employ my methods because I have every confidence in your ability to do so.

[docwithablog]

You should work on your 'building up confidence' skills. They're letting you down a bit. I feel like an absolute arse every time.

[acutereasoner]

Of course you would, you're comparing your results to those of a man who's had considerably more time to practice.

Imagine if I compared myself to Mycroft, who had seven years to master the craft before I ever had a single conscious thought.

A bit unfair, wouldn't you say?

[docwithablog]

Very unfair, indeed. But fairness isn't necessarily something you can expect from life in any case, so I suppose you should continue giving me the opportunity to grow through adversity.

And your horrible teaching methods.

[acutereasoner]

How are they horrible? You're learning just as I did - through trial and error.

I find the pain of failure to be quite the vicious motivator.

[docwithablog]

Sorry, but in my field, Sherlock, people can wind up dead, if I get it wrong, so it's kind of -- in my wiring, wanting to avoid failure.

[acutereasoner]

As it is in mine; hence the vicious part of "vicious motivator."

[On the days he can't bring himself to get out of bed, it serves as a poignant reminder that if he doesn't, people will die, or the people who have already been killed will never be avenged, and their murderers will never be brought to justice.]

Nothing motivates one to succeed quite like the petrifying fear of the alternative.

[docwithablog]

I like success better, I'm not going to lie.

[acutereasoner]

Of course you do. You're neither insane nor a masochist, which for the record, is precisely why your last date was so quick to lose interest.

[docwithablog]

I guess that's a stamp of approval, then. To most people.

"Hey, I don't get off on pain and they won't take me at the psychiatric ward, want to catch a movie tonight?"

[acutereasoner]

You realize the company you keep and the life you live cast doubt onto both those claims, don't you?

[docwithablog]

Can we for just one second pretend to be harmonious men, Sherlock?

[acutereasoner]

To what end?

[docwithablog]

Peace of mind.

[acutereasoner]

Now there's a novel concept.

[docwithablog]

I thought I should try to think up something that would surprise you just somewhat. Probably failing, too, but this is my honest shot.