Summary: Sherlock happens to come across a game called 'Zork' and proceeds to play it.
John was dead tired today. After chasing a murderer past half of London and having to argue with the street police for one hour straight, he was sure he needed at least 12 hours of rest. When he got home, he made himself and Sherlock a cup of tea then walked over to where he was sitting.
Sherlock barely acknowledged him when he handed him his cup. He seemed to be absorbed with something on his laptop, eyes flickering as he read the line of text appearing.
"What are you doing?" He asked. Sherlock only replied with a grunt. John leaned in to look at the screen. There was almost nothing on it except a black window with white text words appearing every once and a while Sherlock enters something.
Sherlock replied with a grunt as usual. So John decided to figure out himself. He began to read the white words.
"You are facing the north side of a white house." John read, "There are no doors here and all the windows are boarded up. To the south, a narrow path winds through the trees…Sherlock, what is this?"
Sherlock sighed, "Game," he said shortly.
John almost choked. "Game?" he coughed out. Sherlock rarely plays games, especially on his laptop. And usually the 'games' that he picks are either gruesome or has nothing to do with an actual game game.
Sherlock didn't even look at him. "Yes," he said. He continued to type. And John watched.
"Go west," Sherlock typed. Another set of white text appeared.
"You are at the west side of a house. A mailbox is in front of you,"
Suddenly, Sherlock slammed his hand on the table, causing John to jump. His tea cup rattled on the side, threatening to fall off.
"What happened?" he said quickly, moving the cup a bit forward to stop it from smashing into pieces. Something must have happened, or else Sherlock wouldn't act this way. Forgotten something? He thought.
Sherlock buried his head in his hands. "I've been here before," he said, obviously annoyed.
"Well," John began, "why don't you go somewhere else then?"
Sherlock groaned.
He slowly lifted his head then reached forward to touch his keys.
"East," he typed. As usual, a set of white text appeared, describing where he was. John decided that Sherlock was fine for now and left him at the little 'game' of his. But soon after he finished his tea, there was another outburst at Sherlock's table.
"What now…" He murmured as he walked over to his chair. He looked at the commands Sherlock had just typed in.
"West,"
"You're in a dimly lit forest,"
"South,"
"You're in a dimly lit forest,"
"East,"
"You're in a dimly lit forest,"
"North,"
"You're in a dimly lit forest,"
"North,"
"You're in a dimly lit forest,"
"North,"
"You're in a dimly lit forest,"
"South,"
"You're still in a dimly lit forest you dimwit,"
John took a sharp intake of air. "Who made this," he said tightly. He held his breath to stop himself from bursting into laughter. Sherlock seemed to not notice or care.
"Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling," he said quickly, as if he was deducing someone again, "they were members of the MIT Dynamic Modeling Group." He added.
John clamped his hand on his mouth and stifled a laugh. He quickly composed himself when Sherlock glanced at him. His blue-green eyes lingered on him for a moment, scanning him like a machine.
"Uhh…try jumping," he said. Sherlock glared at him.
"Jumping?" Sherlock said slowly, raising an eyebrow, "Really John, jumping?"
John shrugged. "Well, I don't know, just try it! It's not like it will hurt or anything,"
Sherlock glared at him for a good measure one last time then turned back to his laptop and started typing in the command. Soon, a single line of white text appeared. John took a deep breath then leaned in to read it.
"Very good, now you can go to second grade," he read.
Sherlock slammed his face straight onto the table.
Hey guys, Izzy here. Just want to explain what Zork is, for those who don't know.
ZORK is a game made in 1977 where you type in something like: Take torch, and your torch is taken. So you go around using simple commands to collect things but it's different is every game. There's Zork 1, 2, and 3, and your main goal is to become the Dudgeon Master, which is like the ruler for the underground city, Zork.
Steps are very important, it's easy to get lost, and once I missed my boat, which caused me to start over again. Do try playing it, it's fun.