When Loki told him that he was in for a rude awakening, a humorless twitch at Sherlock’s lips formed a bitter acknowledgement of the statement. The man seemed to be quite pleased with himself but if he’d only observed him the way Sherlock observed others, he would notice two scabs forming at his wrist, just barely peeking out from underneath his button-down shirt. The way his eyes lit up, how eager he became told Sherlock he was in for another world-shattering, unpleasant surprise, as unlikely as it was, statistically that the supernatural existed on a wide scale in this universe. He’d hoped Sadji was some kind of aberration in the pattern but he felt his stomach turn a little at the suspicion that was somehow, not at all the case.
“I have been rudely awakened already, thank you. And my time might mean very little to you but it means the world for me. Time itself is infinite but the time we are given as individuals remains finite and precious,” he warned Loki, hoping this would tell him in so many words that he wasn’t here to play his games. Whatever they were. Frankly, he’d almost rather not know but… that wasn’t entirely true, was it? It killed him not to know. Boring him was a good way of ensuring dismissal but this wasn’t boredom he felt. Just annoyance with Loki’s manner and the concept of having to accept some other form of utter nonsense as his ‘new reality’ here.
He took a sip of his tea, looking wholly unamused, eyes narrowed a little and when he was asked if they should start with Preya and how he arrived, he shot back, “Of course. Just like I asked.” What else was there to say? This man was obviously having a laugh at him and Sherlock didn’t share his sense of humor, apparently. He put the cup down on the tray, knowing the tea wouldn’t do anything for his fraying nerves and thin patience right now and instead steepled his fingers in front of his mouth, nearly staring daggers at his so-called guest. Oh he couldn’t wait to find out what the shame was, he thought, exhaling sharply. Suddenly, a coin appeared between Loki’s fingers and though it was a rather seamless act and he might’ve been impressed had he not unmasked countless illusionists, both criminal and entertaining in nature (he’d been thrown out of more than one magic act in his life), so he wasn’t all that impressed, as it were. He just tilted his head and raised an eyebrow as if to say, ‘Seriously?’ to this little magic show and looked away from the coin into Loki’s eyes. That was what mattered right now, not a bloody cheap coin trick and Sherlock always knew where to look.
He nearly rolled his eyes when Loki told him he’d deny the truth, he could be accused of many things but never that… ultimately. Ultimately, the truth was sometimes beyond current imagination. Sherlock was never one to deny the truth when it revealed itself… but the truth had to be pursued. Not taken as liberally as breath mints before a first date. Admittedly, his curiosity was piqued when Loki claimed to have arrived by accident. His appraising but withholding look became more open somehow, he was made more receptive by that admission.
Thank god the coin trick was over. Just a meaningless distraction. When he held his hand out, Sherlock’s gaze darted down from Lpki’s eyes to his hand and back up again… until the image was being displayed for him like a video he might’ve as easily watched on YouTube or the like. His brows furrowed at that a little and the dark circles beneath his eyes were extremely apparent as if they’d darkened a shade right then and there… or had his skin lightened a shade at this revelation? Sherlock swallowed thickly, watched the whole thing in silence and sat back in his chair, nearly becoming one with it. He looked wholly exhausted but he was an immovable object. Only death itself would pry his prying eyes away from something as bizarre as Preya. The supernatural, the appearances, the disappearances, those who claimed to be from another time, for god’s sake. Perhaps he’d lost his mind after shooting Magnussen and this was just his hazy, drug-induced interpretation of the hospital he’d been locked in by Mycroft.