Shadow Dweller

Precisely, Sherlock's boredom and taste for adrenalin is one of his buttons. The string of human-bombs is count as unavoidable collateral damage in the way of 'damsels in distress'. Hmm -- so you think perhaps Moriarty was testing Sherlock's ability level, then making The Game slightly too easy for him, just to lull him into thinking that he had the upper hand? That would be a good strategy, and might well have worked if Sherlock hadn't been pulling roughly the same thing on Moriarty. Maybe Sherlock realized that, but I suspect that it didn't really matter to him, because he knew (or at least believed) that he was actually the one in control all along. Hopefully he was right, and will not be blindsided by Moriarty in a future episode! Testing and keeping him on the edge, wanting for more in hope to affect his (rational) thought process. Nothing is truly unpredictable, that is what contingency planning for, to anticipate various turn of events and to maximise gain despite the odds. Moriarty is not a mere static element in the equation, he would not always be there to pull the strings directly but the scheme must go on, as proven that in death he still hold power upon Sherlock (kill yourself or your friends die). Good thing that the Holmes brothers finally decide to band together against Moriarty because so far, despite his penchant for stringing evidences from crime scene in order to form accurate deduction, Sherlock have blind spot in reading chain of events that is not directly connected with human being (that's Mycroft's forte). Forest for the trees.

Enabler ;) The Holmes brothers certainly messed up with tonnes of issues, eh. After observing family dynamics in their estate house, I wonder what kind of thing that produced two person like them.

Oh wow. That is written in such an epic way. :D I never thought about Travian so... thoroughly. Now I see how much you were (are?) 'into it'. Were, thank goodness I can get away from it (finally!) :D

I wonder... does Sherlock ever realize that Moriarty had been lulling him into complacency with the Carl Powers case, a string of human-bombs incident and the royal scandal? It seems that there is a method in 'Jim's madness' after all.

Let us hope that never again Saban gets their hands on any Japanese series :P

Heh, yeah! Coordinated attacks, more than a thousand same-second landing with catapults to raze village to the ground. Non-stop fake attacks for months, war of attrition guaranteed to frazzle nerves enough to send some people into hospital-stay and thus leave central command to the already-compromised second leader. Plant incriminating evidence and massive smear campaign to get rid of nuisance; layer upon layer of subterfuge and traps, under the table dealings, bribery and 'persuasion', Jim Moriarty would approve for sure.

Ah, Travian, I remember trying that one ages ago because a couple friends were playing it - seems there are a lot of new features now (I sure don't remember heroes). Was a bit too PVP-centric for me, but otoh that tends to make for rather tight-knit communities . Indeed, almost every old players know each other's strengths & weaknesses. Competition tends to become vicious though, and often spill to real life. Addictive ^^

Do you means the 'King of England' remark? Somehow I took it as Sherlock mocking his brother, 'the true ruler of England'. :lol:

:P If they put Tom Riddle's pic for intj then I would be more inclined to believe it. Boy do they ever. The newspapers are full of stories of people who had an enemy so dangerous they do wind up dead. So yeah, John's statement is a bit of fiction. That's unfortunately all too true in the literal sense. But maybe what Jess meant was that John doesn't think of anyone as his enemy, even though he may not like them. I think that's consistent with what he told Sherlock. And it doesn't mean that he's horribly altruistic, it just means that's how he naturally views the world. If you're at all familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality paradigm, you may recall that one pair of traits is Perceiving versus Judging. John is apparently a Perceiver. Oh, I love that point. Possibly because I really am a Perciever. We revel in ambiguity. Much to the dismay of the J's. (Say it now, say it loud, I'm a P, and I'm Proud!) P.S. Now I'm sitting here trying to decide if Sherlock's an INTJ or an ISTP. Heaven help me. Thank you Arcadia for opening the door to the world of Carl Jung. Now I know that outside of fiction, I am not the only one who tends to respond to emotionally-charged situation with detached rationality. The system is very useful to play with too. :D

And that shows the difference between extroverts and introverts. Introverts can sympathize with Molly and her behaviour because she's "one of us" but extroverts (it seems it's only you here :D) can't. Not here. Stand up straight and be dignified, Molly! :P INTJ Introvert(56%) iNtuitive(75%) Thinking(75%) Judging(89%) You have moderate preference of Introversion over Extraversion (56%) You have distinct preference of Intuition over Sensing (75%) You have distinct preference of Thinking over Feeling (75%) You have strong preference of Judging over Perceiving (89%) Memorado quiz: INTJ - THE SCIENTIST Introverted - Intuition - Thinking - Judging Wait, wait, is that the evil bat of the Hogwarts' dungeon?!

Google, looking for active RP

Mycroft: Now after Mary Watson gave birth to the baby, she no longer have reason to stay so close with my baby brother *insert evil, evil tiny smirk here* :P

A Case of The Confirmation Bias, something that Magnussen successfully exploited many times as news baron (by HLV, Sherlock already learn from harsh experience about such thing). Publicity, a celebrity could be loved or hated but never ignored by the press :lol: I agree that it is necessary to fake Sherlock's ruin and death even from most of the closest friends (we know how bad John is in acting). As a decision it is not personal but Sherlock forgot the second rule which is, 'how it would be thought' by the recipients (hope his nose healed nicely!)

Especially if that particular series is rife with wordplays then it usually would be ruined by dubbing effort. English-based dub usually assign wrong voice actors and thus messing up the characters. -_-" Type of voice and intonation matters a lot to me, it is part of the whole experience and make characters who they are.

That would be EVE Online, right? And seconding Carol, your avatar's stunning. Travian ^_^ Afraid I cannot take credit for that avatar since it was found a long time ago somewhere.

1. When the first thing you do after waking up is to check this forum 2. You actually make formal vest for your dog, complete with fake pocket-watch

Thanks! ^^ Not Mother Earth but Sky Mother, the all seeing eyes like Heimdall's? *Avengers/Thor mode ON* :lol:

I can see that it is Mycroft's doing, because people, even the uber-rational type, tends to do things for the sake of loved ones. Illustration; people choose to enter the army for various reasons, one of them is to protect. It is hard to care so much about nebulous concept such as Queen and country. No, they are more likely to fight for the sake of people they care about. If what it takes to keep Sherlock out of the harm's way this time is to fake Moriarty's resurrection, some worm could do the 'appear on every screen', considering our virtually connected to each other's reality. Well-executed stroke I would say, played right on many people's fear of the 'Napoleon of Crime' reputation. Next, he could arrange something to give substance to Moriarty's reappearance. Moriarty's death likely left a big gaping hole in the 'landscape', I find it hard to believe that Mycroft would not try to seize the opportunity by placing his own people in strategic places, waiting for instruction. Invent his own national threat and see people how would band together, might be even more power for him.

Shadow Dweller from past role as alliance strategist in an online war game; basically my part was to analyse situation based on reports from the battlefield, diplomatic & espionage divisions, and then make the whole jumble actually make sense for our illustrious leader :D I advise and recommend course of action in regards of our allies and potential competitors, how to deal with them in the short and long run, when on the same time often engaged in messing with other players' mind in the name of the alliance's interest (hence the 'Without fail, in light, shadows must follow' signature, means that I take care the dark side of the otherwise the paragon of virtue-type of alliance). Avatar... because I am a female and also often seen as harmless, a good thing in my line of 'work' :P

Thank you, Carol ^^ I think Mycroft was torn between wanting to care for Sherlock and also feels burdened by him, hence the snippy attitude. I bet he would feels certain emptiness inside should Sherlock finally did not need his help again :lol: Mycroft strikes me as someone who see the world as cruel place and what would be better than caring for those he loved by empowering them to stand by themselves? Mycroft's job and position is dangerous one, if we can believe Sherlock's 'He is the British Government' and Magnussen's 'MI6', the probability that he might meet his end not as an old man in his own bed is certainly there. What would happen to Sherlock if Mycroft was taken out of picture by hostile party before the first can protect himself both from external forces and himself? Unlike public figure in power such as Prime Minister, shadow controller like Mycroft is particularly vulnerable because he lacked true legitimate power. He might be master of secrets and sordid dealings in Britain but much of his claim to authority came from fact that he was trusted by the power that be. Of course he have personal skill, that counts too, but when push come to shove, it is not impossible that his masters finally decide that his usefulness has come to end.

It seems that Sherlock suffers from Peter Pan Syndrome, with Mycroft in Wendy's role as enabler. He actually expect for Mycroft to get him out of Serbian prison and frequent reference of the latter as 'Mother'. In The Last Vow, a glimpse of Sherlock as a frightened child as seen from Mycroft's eyes, understandable from perspective of someone who care / love his reckless sibling that he would be compelled to protect his vulnerable 'baby brother' who cannot defend himself. After Moriarty's face appeared in all screens at the end of TLV, Mycroft called Sherlock and his words came along as , "Have you learn already (from your mistake)? To me it speaks loudly about desire to help younger sibling to grow up, feeble attempt to empower Sherlock to face every day reality where adults expected to be responsible. Too bad that Mycroft did it wrong...