"I'm working on it." Evelyn hissed back, and she fidgeted, trying to contain her nervous energy. Sure, he was just a persona in a show, but Sherlock Holmes was a character. Her favorite character. Quick witted, intelligent, one of the rare individuals who might be able to keep up with the level of perception the echoes granted her with. The last thing she wanted to do was look dumb in front of him.

As Watson moved to analyze the kitchen table, she slipped the sword from under his chair, plopped in one of the open seats and leaned on the hilt. Putting aside her concerns, she focused the echoes on the lean man, mentally counting down how long they might have to the next scene change. "So, Mr. Holmes, are you always so hostile towards house guests, or just the uninvited ones?" She began, and he glanced her was with what could assume was a bored expression.

"Depends on the guest. If they bring some little fact along, some mystery to be solved, perhaps they'd engage my interest." He turned and started rummaging through the desk, and she bit her lip slightly, ignoring the slight sting of the jab.

"Well I'm sorry to be such an inconvenience on your time then. I'm certain you have other more important things to do. Perhaps check your e-mail, but since your own computer's in the other room I take it you'd rather just invite yourself to John's, wouldn't you?"

Ok, she cheated on that one.

"So what if I did? I'm a busy man, in the time it would take to retrieve my computer, I can easily bypass this one's password, and get the small delight of seeing dear Watson's expression when I do." He smugly retorted.

And it just went on like that.

Maya decided to sit this one out. She never considered herself dumb, but the level this battle of wits had escalated to in mere minutes was out of her league. She was compensated for it, though: watching Evelyn in her element was quite the spectacle. Maya suspected that not holding back the flow of information her echoes provided must have been similar to Eve than what she felt every time she came clean with the genders shifting. Kind of.

Sherlock did not give her a second glance, so Maya busied herself not being in the way, and keeping an eye out for scene shifts. She was still leaning against the bookshelf, watching the scene progress.

Mr. Holmes was not an easy person to have a conversation with. He was constantly distracted by something or another. He'd be working on the computer, talking to Watson, darting out the door without a word, and his movements were about as abrupt as the scene changes. Evelyn didn't have to hold back with her echoes for once. It took the information they had just to keep up with the man. She wasn't quite sure what she expected. Perhaps he'd find her more fascinating than the mystery at hand? But for Mr. Holmes, there was only the mystery, and they were just the occasional background noise along the way.

"Am I quite this...difficult to deal with?" Evelyn asked Maya at the next scene change. They were at the international finance house now, while Mr. Holmes chatted with his old university acquaintance. "It's like trying to talk to someone whose got a million other more interesting things on his mind. I've half tempted to tell him who the murder is just to see the look on his face." She remarked, rolling her eyes. He was so...smug. So delighted when he was right, and living on his own form of intellectual high. The conversation finished, back downstairs. Scene change, back upstairs and Mr. Holmes was alone. Evelyn leaned against the wall and called out to him.

"Chinese symbols. I bet it's a cypher. They climbed up the building. Acrobats." She smirked. Mr. Holmes didn't even turn around.

"No one like's a show off my dear. Trust me: I'm the best at it." He snapped a photo with his phone, capturing the symbols, then turned back to the window. A frightening glimpse of the ground followed then they were back in the office while he bobbed and weaved around the workers trying to identify who the message was meant for. It didn't take long for him to grab the man's name from the outside his door, then they were following him down the stairs.

"You don't care, do you? The answers don't matter unless you're the one finding them. It's the game, not the conclusion, the challenge that saves you from life's own boredom." She remarked behind him. Finally, he glanced back, trying not to look surprised, but his expression settled somewhere between impressed and...bored. Watson started speaking, and he went back to ignoring the two girls, revealing the information he'd so brilliantly discovered. Evelyn sighed, let her mind scan ahead for the next scene, and let out a little whistle.

"Oh...scene change. Cab ride. That could be a little cramped."

>>"Am I quite this...difficult to deal with? It's like trying to talk to someone whose got a million other more interesting things on his mind. I've half tempted to tell him who the murder is just to see the look on his face."

"Don't ask me, I'm just along for the ride" Maya grinned. She really was. Way out of her league, and having tons of fun. It had been a while.

"You can tell him, y'know. The plot can change if you work it right. Depends on how well you do it."

Evelyn seemed to consider that as the movie rolled on, and Sherlock, whoever this guy was, was more peculiar than ever. Maya found herself wondering if Sherlock was, in fact, a mutant of some kind. Or an early, literary idea of one.

>>"You don't care, do you? The answers don't matter unless you're the one finding them. It's the game, not the conclusion, the challenge that saves you from life's own boredom."

That got a reaction, and Maya gave Sherlock a look over Evelyn's shoulders silently saying: 'Don't look at me, she's out of control.'

>>"Oh...scene change. Cab ride. That could be a little cramped."

Cramped did not quite cover it. Maya spat some white hair out as she peered at the two main characters around Evelyn's shoulder. They were hard to ignore up close and personal.

"Um. Hi."

Evelyn's echoes took a break from following Sherlock to flick back and analyze Maya for a second. She seemed to be surprisingly happy, and minus the random threat of death by Sherlock's flashbacks, it was evident she was enjoying herself. Come to think of it, Evelyn wasn't sure she really saw Mirror 'happy' since they met. First there was the battle with the cookie monster, then the ill fated trip to the danger room followed by subsequent nightmares. Evelyn left the mansion for awhile, then was rescued by the mirror-walker in the MET. Gawain was still pretty serious then, because it was, yet again, a life or death situation. They ran into each other outside the mansion, while Gawain was dealing with his whole red-head friend issue; crossed paths in the infirmary--she shoved past that memory and the still rather painful words that were said. And then Gawain showed up to apologize, but he still seemed rather stressed. All the memories flickered through her head in a moment, as her brain processed it at unnatural speed. But then she turned back to the show, the faintest smile on her mouth.

If nothing else, for a moment she'd let her friend hand up the hero cape and just enjoy the ride. However the rest of the adventure went, that was worth it.

"Well I hope you enjoy the ride. You're pretty much tagging along with a double dose of Holmes. I'm not quite certain that's a good combination to throw together." Evelyn laughed, and then the scene change happened, and she was rather awkwardly stuck sitting on Maya's lap, the two men in the cab staring at them in confusion. Well, Watson was confused. Sherlock just looked annoyed.

"Do you mind?" Sherlock grumbled, and Evelyn stuck out her tongue before the scene changed again, depositing them outside an apartment as Sherlock irritably pushed the buzzer.

"Sherlock, who are these people?"

"Just ignore them, we have a mystery to solve."

"Igno--Ok fine, so what do we do now?"

Before he could reply, Evelyn strode forward, put her hand across the buzzer, and planted herself in the path of Mr. Holmes. His face had an expression of surprise and irritation, but she was done holding books and playing Watson to his irritable intellect. Ignore them. Ha.. "I'll tell you what you two can do Mr. Watson, if Mr. Holmes has no objection.

"I--"

"Didn't think so. First of all, you can buzz the woman in the flat above Mr. Van Coon's. Name tag is new since she just moved in so she wouldn't know the man who lives below her. From her balcony, Sherlock can drop into the room below, letting himself in, and leave you outside the doorway while he explores and finds the body of Mr. Van Coon."

"Body?" 

"Quite right. A body. Mr. Van Coon has been shot, gun lying next to him and door locked. Police will assume suicide, but then Mr. Holmes will notify Detective Inspector Dimmock--not Sergeant--that it is not, in fact, a suicide but a murder, due to the fact Mr. Van Coon is left handed and he was shot on the right side of his head. He is left handed because of all the clues you'll find in his apartment; things like the direction his coffee cup is turned and where the pen and paper rest next to the phone. The fact that he keeps pen and paper next to the phone says something about his personality, which is irrelevant, but whatever. Moving on, the suitcase in his closet will have about three days worth of clothes and will give the impression that something bulky was in the case with it. Take note of that, it's important, so is the mysterious black piece of paper in Mr. Van Coon's mouth.

"Tomorrow you will discover the death of Mr. Brian Lewis, journalist, killed in his apartment with the door locked behind him. John you will have just gotten a job as locum, taken a fancy to a woman there too but you'll deny it. A short trip to Scotland Yard later, and you're at Mr. Lewis' apartment. Mysterious black paper on the ground, an investigation by Mr. Holmes shows that the intruder came in through the skylight, which is a feat in an apartment building which is 4 floors up. The bank and Mr. Van Coon's apartment were similarly broken into, in this manner. Trial leads to the library, another cryptic symbol spray painted on the shelf where the book Mr. Van Coon checked out was. You decide to speak with a graffiti artist to try and identify the work, Watson gets framed for the graffiti."

"I what?!"

"You'll have court on Tuesday. Carrying on. After retrieving Mr. Lewis' journal, John, you'll discovery a flight stub in the pages, as well as an address to a shop called the Lucky Cat. Mr. Holmes will follow similar clues to such as a taxi stub, and a receipt from the tube. Evidence will show Mr. Van Coon was making a heavy delivery. Inside the shop you'll find symbols matching those that were spraypainted, an archaic Chinese dialect revealing the symbols were in fact numbers. Eventually you'll come to the conclusion these two businessmen were smuggling artifacts to the drop off point at the Lucky Cat. Both men were threatened, however, because someone got sticky fingers and stole something from the individual they were smuggling from. The trail will lead across the road to Mrs. Soo Lin's flat, where someone has broken in. Soo Lin left in a hurry, and after a quick inspection, Mr. Holmes will realize the intruder is still there, while Watson is left outside."

"Again?"

"Yes, again, he does that a lot to you doesn't he? Rather rude. Anyway, he'll get nearly strangled to death by the attacker, finds a mysterious black piece of paper in his pocket as the assassin disappears. Outside Mrs. Soo Lin's door there will be a paper from the national antiquities museum. You'll speak to Andy there, and locate another cryptic symbol spray painted. Returning to the graffiti artist, he'll show you further symbols, and you'll locate the spray paint can used to create them. Sherlock will find an advertisement for the circus while Watson, you'll locate the full message before someone spray paints it over, but managed to take a photo beforehand.

"Well that was clever of him." Sherlock murmured with a smirk.

Watson looked offended. "I don't even get a thank you? You could show a little appreciation since I'll be in court on Tuesday!"

"You could show him a little more Respect Mr. Holmes. Or I can just continue to tell you how the mystery ends. I'm sure you'd love that."

"I'm sure you'll oblige."

"Very well then. You'll find Soo Lin at the museum, finishing her work. She'll reveal a tattoo on her foot, mark of the Tong, the group she smuggled for. She left that life behind, but fears it's coming back to haunt her. She was asked to help track down something that was stolen from her brother. The paper objects that you found, Mr. Holmes, were origami black lotus flowers. Before Soo Lin can say what book the cypher uses for the code, she's killed by her brother.

"After a visit to the morgue, you prove Mr. Dimmock that both men who were killed have the same tattoo. You get all the books from both men sent to you, sort through all them to try and find the ones both have. John falls asleep at work, his lady friend helps keep him out of trouble, and the two of them go out on a date. Sherlock convinces them to go to the Yellow Dragon Circus. He rudely tags along, of course, since he lacks the social etiquette."

Rather than look offended, Mr. Holmes was looking more engaged. "Dragon Circus, acrobat--oh this is starting to make sense. Keep going."

"Fine. At the circus you'll find the spray paint that made the symbols in the dressing room, a fight will commence, and you will get away but so will they. Sherlock eventually discovers the cypher is for the London A to Z guide book, but in the meantime, John and his lady friend will get kidnapped because they think you, Mr. Watson, are Sherlock Holmes. They'll threaten to kill you, trying to get information about the missing treasure. Sherlock rescues you of course, which is lucky. Turns out, the treasure is a hairpin worth 9 mil pounds, and the cypher is telling associates to take it to the tramway. The hairpin was given to a woman in Van Coons office who he bought an expensive hand lotion for."

"Well congratulations, you've stolen all the fun out of my week."

"You ignored me. I think we're even."

"And what about you? Do you have anything to add to this?" Watson remarked, glancing at Maya as Sherlock fidgeted with his cell phone.

...

Whoa.

It seemed like the only person who could follow the entire rant was Sherlock, which was no wonder, and when Maya glanced sideways she could see a matching stunned expression on Watson's face. So, this was Evelyn plus her echoes pulling all the stops. And that was Sherlock Holmes keeping up.

Talk about spoilers.
Maya made a mental note never to take her into Dr. Who.

"Oh my god there is two of them..." Watson whispered at some point as if he was just staring at a hydra growing two heads. Maya was similarly gaping at the whole scene, although for a slightly different reason.

Evelyn's cheeks were pink by the time she finished her rant. Sherlock was impressed. Mission accomplished.

>>"And what about you? Do you have anything to add to this?"

Maya glanced at Watson, and then Sherlock, then back at Evelyn.

"Yeah. Excuse me."

Spinning Eve around with a hand around her waist, she kissed her full on the lips.

Evelyn didn't know what she expected when the rant was finished. Perhaps Sherlock would go take care of the mystery, save a few people from getting murders, generally ruin the suspense of the other hour and a half of the movie. Maybe he'd ask her how she knew everything, challenge her perhaps... The echoes considered the possibilities. Then they turned to Maya, and asked if she had anything to add.

The echoes were taken aback by the hand on the waist. They short circuited when Maya's lips met hers. Somewhere in her head her emotions got tangled with the echoes, and tripped her brain and everything scrambled. Evelyn had never been kissed before, never really dated, didn't bother seriously considering the idea. Then standing there in front of Sherlock Holmes, Watson and the television world of London, everything broke. She felt her face turn crimson, bright red against her pale hair as she blinked at the mirror-walker, completely and utterly speechless.

Watson glanced at Sherlock, and smirked slightly. "I may want to shut you up at times, but I don't fancy trying that method. You better call Scotland yard though to report that body."

Maya was caught up in the moment when she started the kiss, and damn it felt good. But that initial feeling soon evaporated as she could feel Evelyn tense up. Well, being kissed in front of your detective idol, quite unexpected, by a girl, would do that to you.
She pulled back, cheeks now burning to match hers, and let go of Evelyn. Glancing around, she could see Watson arching an eyebrow.

"Come on now, John, it was obvious from the start" Sherlock sighed, pulling out his phone.

The echoes were obnoxious tattle tales, once they started working again. They picked up on Mirror's body language, and Evelyn realized her companion was starting to take her reaction the wrong way. She tried to formulate words, but then Sherlock interrupted yet again.

"You're probably in your twenties, well mannered, high class. Surprising you've never been kissed before."

"Well I-" Her face couldn't get any redder, luckily, but if they were in a cartoon she would have been positively simmering. Sherlock cut her off, holding up a hand as Detective Dimmock answered the other line. The detective went to continue his phone call for a moment, then put his hand over the mouth piece and whispered.

"She's not embarrassed because you're a girl. She's embarrassed because she's never been kissed."

"Know-it-all." Evelyn grumbled.

"Spoil-sport." The detective retorted.

>>"You're probably in your twenties, well mannered, high class. Surprising you've never been kissed before."

Maya's jaw dropped again.

"She's never what...?!"

Evelyn looked more embarrassed than she had ever seen her. Her cheeks were burning. Maya suddenly felt like she wanted to sink into the pavement.

>>"She's not embarrassed because you're a girl. She's embarrassed because she's never been kissed."

"Wh..." the mirrorwalker blinked, still trying to process the gravity of the situation.

>>"Know-it-all."

>>"Spoil-sport."

"Fantastic." Watson rolled his eyes, but with less annoyance than he should have, and a smile playing on his lips.

"I..." Maya stared at Evelyn, suddenly having a really good idea what it felt like to be embarrassed like that, and looking for something to say "... I think we broke the story."

>>"... I think we broke the story."

"Well, we'll know if a scene change or another flashback happens I guess." She managed to say, trying to regain her composure. The story was broken, her echoes were broken, her thoughts were broken. The only one who looked delighted now was Sherlock. Maya looked embarrassed, and she wasn't sure if that was thanks to Sherlock's tactless fact dropping or because of Evelyn's initial reaction to getting kissed. She couldn't read the other girl right now, her brain was trying to process too much information. Mirror had kissed her, and not just that overly chivalrous knightly like thing she would have done as Gawain. It felt different, and her brain kept trying to nudge her to the possible implications but she was trying to keep her thoughts out of that area for the moment. She didn't need to have an interrogation about her love life at the moment.

Sherlock went to open his mouth and she gave him a look and she shut it again, hanging up the phone.

"Our dear Detective Investigator is on his way. I guess we'll know soon enough how accurate your perception is. Such a shame, we could have invited you to the circus, but all things considering they'll probably all be in jail now." Before he could really remark on it more, the scene changed abruptly, and they had skipped towards the end of the show, watching at a distance as Sherlock went to collect the hair pin that would have started the mystery. Evelyn leaned against a wall, and exhaled deeply.

"I'm suddenly glad we're not going to be here for the whole film. Another hour of him picking apart my dating life in revenge for me spoiling his mystery would be like arguing with the echoes in a mirror again without being able to walk away..."

Apparently the show skipped right to the end - after Evelyn's rant there was not much to add to the mystery. Maya sighed and ran her fingers through her hair.

>>"I'm suddenly glad we're not going to be here for the whole film. Another hour of him picking apart my dating life in revenge for me spoiling his mystery would be like arguing with the echoes in a mirror again without being able to walk away..."

"Well, at least now you know what it's like."

Sherlock retrieved the pin and Watson still seemed confused at the whole thing. Maya, on the other hand, processed the words that she had just said, and resisted the urge to slap herself upside the head.

"... meeting Sherlock, I mean. What it's like to meet Sherlock." she fumbled and she knew it. Ouch.

The screen went black, and the next moment they were back in her room, standing in front of the tv screen where credits were rolling as of nothing had happened. Maya squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then sighed.

"I'm sorry."

>>"At least now you know what it's like."

Having to deal with echoes meant Evelyn's mind processed information much faster than people she was around. The words had hardly left the mirror-walkers mouth before her mind took the phrase, and twisted it back at her. Maya hadn't meant to be mean, she could see it in her body language. But there was the more subtle meaning hidden underneath it, and that was what stung. She was always quick to judge, quick to jump to conclusions, and wasn't shy about analyzing Mirror's love life in the past. She had been dumb enough to get jealous over it, and dumb enough to argue about it. She didn't really have a right to, anymore than Mr. Holmes had. Even before Maya realized what she'd said, Evelyn had sifted through an array of emotions, and settled somewhere on quiet humility. They were standing in the room, and as Maya apologized, Evelyn gave a slight smile.

"Nothing to be sorry about. It was a good experience, as short as it had been. Heck, at least you didn't have to deal with the other assassins, and the guns, and... and, you're right. I do know what it's like now. And I'm sorry I've dug into your life when you didn't want me to as well." She looked at her feet for a moment. The carpet in this room had a lot more dog fur than her own. She wondered if there were spiders in there as well.

Maya was painfully aware that she was the younger girl in this situation (even though the more experienced). She looked away too, wondering how their only two settings seemed to be 'angry' and 'awkward.'

>>"Nothing to be sorry about. It was a good experience, as short as it had been. Heck, at least you didn't have to deal with the other assassins, and the guns, and... and, you're right. I do know what it's like now. And I'm sorry I've dug into your life when you didn't want me to as well."

"Wha... No!" Maya blinked, looking at Evelyn again, getting annoyed at herself for apparently not making sense at all. "That's so not what I was talking about."

Leaning back against the edge of her desk, she sighed and shook her head.

"I just... I guess I was trying to say, I'm sorry for, um. The kiss." she felt her cheeks burning again "I didn't know it was your first. I shouldn't have... it should have been different. And I shouldn't have... done it, as Maya. It was... I guess, it was supposed to be something else. For you. Better."

What was that about making sense, again?

Evelyn blinked slightly at Maya's response, and then slowly she smilled. "I'm not really sure you're supposed to kiss and apologize. You either meant it or you didn't. You're still you whether you're Maya or Gawain... I was just...surprised... I didn't really think you liked me. Or don't you? I mean I guess you could apologize then I'd you don't..." Her momentary rush of courage vanished and the awkward started settling in again.

She looked at the floor again. Her face burned and she started questioning the things going through her head. Her own doubts tainted her echoes and she didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to think.