While it was strange for Joan to have her own apartment and not have a client she was working with, she was kind of liking it. After all, it wasn't often that she was able to stay in her own place. There were brief windows between clients, but other than that, she was living with the client. But this fact also worked against Joan. It meant that she didn't have to deal with people if she didn't want to, and it was all too easy for her to fall into the habits of a shut-in. No doubt it was all part of that penance thing Sherlock had pointed out to her that she was doing, but she did feel as though she'd deserved it. It had been her mistake, and it had cost the life of her patient. She'd left medicine and hadn't looked back. Well, aside from visiting the grave of the patient she'd killed, she didn't look back more than she had to.
Despite having an innate empathy for people and wanting to help them, she kept people at arm's length from her. She'd uprooted her entire life to take a new path. To what end, she had no idea, she just knew she couldn't continue on the doctor path. At least as a sober companion, she could still help people, but she didn't have to operate on them in order to help. No, she gave her clients a regimen to adhere to.
So in a way, this dinner party Sherlock was having was slightly unnerving. She could still socialize, but she did wonder where the conversation would go. It was mostly the personal types of questions she worried about. Joan had rather mastered the art of giving out personal information while skirting past the things that upset her the most. Sometimes she was called out on it, sometimes she wasn't.
Still, she knew she should be sociable lest Sherlock come after her. It was still odd, but Joan would adjust. Part of her felt as though she should be watching him every minute of every day like she did with the Sherlock in her world, but she wasn't so certain that this Sherlock used drugs. Turning her attention to John, she nodded a bit.
"A blogger? So you do a lot of writing?" As he turned the question back to her, she didn't have to stall for an answer. "I work as a sober companion. The Sherlock in my world was my latest client." She did wait for further questions on the matter regarding being a sober companion. It wasn't exactly something everyone knew what it was.