Title: Making the Connection
Story Summary: A non-chronological collection of short chapters based on one word prompts, includes (pre-)slash for Johnlock & Mystrade
Chapter Summary: John uses the cab ride on their way home to find out more about Sherlock. Prompt: Dialect
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Moffat, Gatiss & SACD.
A/N: First of all I'd like to thank all of you for the load of reviews and adds I got for the last chapter, sorry I couldn't reply to all of them. I should go on spa weekends more often if this is what I get for it. No, I'm kidding. There's another chapter coming up later today, so you may look forward to that. Meanwhile this is my reply to a prompt from CowMow. Hope you like how it turned out. Please note: This chapter marks the 20,000th word of this story (without the headers).
They were on their way back home after solving one of the cases that they had got because of the blog. John never ceased to be amazed by Sherlock's vast amount of hidden talents. Today it had been his command of the French language that had made solving the case that much easier.
Somehow it just didn't leave John alone. So he asked: "How many languages do you speak?"
Sherlock didn't even turn his head when he replied. "That depends on how you define 'speak'."
That was yet another thing that had changed since the consulting detective had become a part of his life. John was constantly evaluating definitions. "Okay, how many languages can you order a cup of tea in?"
"Sixty three." Of course Sherlock knew the exact number without having to think for as much as a second.
It was a ridiculously high number so John decided to narrow it down a bit."In how many languages can you chat?"
"That depends again." One corner of Sherlock's mouth smirked. He seemed to like these little interviews.
John, however, wasn't particularly keen on guessing. "On what this time?"
His friend finally turned his entire body around, so that he was slightly leaning towards him. "Well, I can converse like Anderson in twenty languages, like you in eight and like myself in five."
The hidden compliment did not go unnoticed and John smiled with a bit of pride. Now he was curious again. "Okay. So what are the languages that you'd be able to speak at my level?"
"French, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Mandarin, of course English and Russian" Sherlock hesitated for a bit before he added "if I talk to the right person."
John frowned in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"
"I was never formally taught Russian, I learned it from my violin teacher. But he was from Kursk and therefore spoke a very thick southern dialect and that's what I learned. I can read everything, but not all of them understand what I'm talking about."
"So your Russian is somewhat similar to your English. Good to know." John stated in a dry tone and grinned at his friend.
"I think that is a correct observation." Sherlock replied and returned the smile.