Ashes, Ashes

Here Today

- c h a p t e r   e i g h t e e n -

Sherlock looked as if time had stopped completely for him, as if he were lost in his own mind palace. It certainly wouldn't surprise Emma, not as she watched his champagne glass tumble towards the ground, glittered all along the way.

"The Mayfly Man," he murmured, hardly audible except for the fact that nearly all were silent. "The Mayfly Man is..."

There was another pause in his thoughts before he could manage to complete them. In Emma's personal opinion, this made him seem an awful lot like someone who didn't have a clue what they were talking about. It was certainly nice to be on a different side of such a scenario, after he'd spent so many of his words to mock her.

Finally, however, he managed to spit the last few words out, right as the champagne glass made contact with the floor.

"...here today."

The glass shattered in a sudden explosion, almost like the sun had suddenly burst into a thousand shards along with golden sunshine seeping out along with it. Only at this point did Sherlock seem to snap back into reality. He glanced down to the ground, the realisation of what had occurred finally washing over him..

"Oh, sorry. I..."

It only took a few moments before the master of cermemonies rushed beside him to remedy the situation.

"Another glass, sir?" he asked, offering it to Sherlock.

Sherlock took the glass, but it was clear that his mind was far away.

"Thank you, yes. Thank you, yes. Now, where were we?"

Sherlock tried to remedy the situation as quickly as humanly possible, but the room's atmosphere shifted completely. It took Emma only a glance around the room to see anxiety written on the creases of each frown. People felt confused as they held up their glasses, wondering what the hell this best man was doing. Emma certainly had never gone through such a thing before.

Sherlock shook his head before saying, "Ah, yes. Raising glasses and standing up. Very good. Thank you."

In a perplexing gesture, he brought his hands down to make everyone sit back in their seats once more. "And down again."

To think that he'd shown so much potential during the earlier portions of the speech! Emma should've guessed it sooner - of course he would end up finding himself in such a mess. Social gatherings certainly weren't his forte...and nor was speaking mainly about anyone else but himself and a murder suspect. But his ideas seemed to be shifting as he set down his glance, starting to move forwards.

"Ladies and gentlemen, people tell you not to milk a good speech - get off early, leave 'em laughing. Wise advice I'll certainly try to bear in mind. But for now..."

Emma's gasp joined the rest of the guest's as Sherlock leaped over the table, performing the action as if it had been planned from the very beginning.

...part two," he announced, beginning to walk up the middle aisle.

His eyes flitted about, desperately seeking...something. Emma thought for a second before determining his goal - he was looking for the Mayfly Man.

"Part two is more action-based. I'm gonna...walk around, shake things up a bit," he said.

Emma decided to hide her face - it wasn't worth it to have him notice her for any particular reason, especially because she'd once dated this "Mayfly Man." She was as useless as anyone else in the room...except, however, he didn't seem to care about any females in the room. Sherlock was focused on all the males - he needed to find the Mayfly Man.