Most people had some kind of reaction: positive, negative or shock to his particular set of skills but Natasha seemed completely unfazed, which left him wondering if she’d seen things even more inhuman than a man deduce whether she had brushed with Colgate or Crest that day and why or whether she’d been adequately warned as to his habit of coming through the very fibers of people for the ‘fingerprints’ their habits and life had left on them. Natasha’s lack of a response spoke volumes about her and Sherlock looked at her teeth when she smiled. Crest 3D White Brilliance Toothpaste before she’d gotten dressed. There were no droplets of moisture from rinsing her mouth on her sweater nor any hardly-noticeable splash back from the paste itself. So, she paid deep attention to the image she was presenting and how much she decided to reveal through careful consideration of her habits. What he didn’t tell her was that he knew the brand of her toothpaste after taking a tooth from the mouth of most of the corpses that entered the morgue and preforming extensive testing on samples and going through the permutations of dental hygiene each corpse had engaged in.
She also had one of the most moderate, unplaceable accents he’d ever heard so he assumed she might be covering one… or several with this blank canvas of a dialect she spoke with. Some people would have assumed she was from Los Angeles, as they had fairly unremarkable accents but had none of the accompanying speech patterns to identify her as such.
“It’s no trouble, really. Tea is a drink for those with the luxury of sipping and the purpose of enjoyment of the fragrance and flavor. Coffee’s the drink of those with work to do and lacking in the ability to savor the fuel they put into their bodies,” he said mildly, explaining why he knew she’d appreciate the coffee more, ultimately. He had to explain frequently or people made a bold, incorrect assumption that he was prone to randomly guessing or somehow psychic of all things.
As she turned off her cellphone, Sherlock gave her a knowing little smirk and said, “I won’t frisk you but I think we’re both aware that should you want to record this conversation, you could, easily. You aren’t just a part of the police force, my guess is that you took part in a top secret, special ops organization before you came here. Whether you are here to inform the current government or expose its secrets remains to be seen, but if you’re asking me to look over a file containing the information of missing persons, this is either a wonderful ruse or you’re absolutely sincere.” He took the thumb drive offered to him and looked it over for a moment, holding it up to the light, trying to see if there were any notable physical deviations from an average thumb drive. While he was inspecting it, he addressed what Natasha had explained to him about the force and her particular interest in him. A little smirk appeared on his face, not mocking so much as self-satisfied.
“You find my skills to exceed the realm of normalcy? Interesting. Perhaps I’m in exactly the right place at the right time. Serendipity can be so fulfilling. To lead such a band you must be in possession of some unnatural capabilities of your own.” Really, he was flattered but he’d always known in his heart that no matter how many people rejected him in fear, frustration and outrage, that his contributions were singular and quite rare. It was nice to happen along someone that respected the science of deduction and his objective approach to cases, clients, criminals and the horrors only humans were capable of committing against one another.
He pondered what she said regarding the disappearances, the case of a lifetime in his opinion, and the… names he’d recognize on the thumb drive which caused his face to become more serious, his brow furrowed every so slightly.