They spent considerable time just staring at their notes, Sherlock deep in his Mind Palace, searching for John, while Loki was attempting to build a Mind Palace of his own, based on their palace at Asgard.
Eventually Sherlock spoke.
"That Eurus and Helena that Anthony mentioned," he asked, staring straight ahead with his fingertips pressed to his temples, as if it would heighten his concentration, "do you know them?"
Loki opened his eyes.
"What?" he asked, and for a moment Sherlock wondered if it was subtle payback for his own distracted attitude of earlier that morning.
"Eurus and Helena," he repeated, "Anthony mentioned them."
"Tony," Loki corrected, "nobody calls him Anthony."
"Whatever. Do you know them?"
Loki shut his eyes again for a moment, and Sherlock waited for an answer.
"Well," Loki spoke, "I haven't seen them, and their names don't sound familiar. However, maybe I'd recognize them on sight."
Sherlock nodded slowly.
"I suppose there are always a few unsolved characters," he mused, "like that Rhodes guy."
"I've thought about that, and I think maybe he was a friend of Tony's," Loki replied, "I've heard about him vaguely from Clint, back in the days of New York, but he didn't give too much details because Rhodes was one of the people who wasn't classified as a threat."
Names names names. Who's Clint? I'm pretty sure he was mentioned earlier...
"Then there's that other gym teacher," Loki went on, "Petero Maximoff or something. Him I really don't know."
More names...
"And Banner?" Sherlock asked.
"Him I do know," Loki answered, "unfortunately. But I don't know his assistant..."
"Molly Hooper," Sherlock cut in, "I know her. She works at the morgue."
"The morgue, huh?" Loki smirked, "Must be a place you visit often. I'm sure that's an interesting relationship you two have."
Sherlock frowned.
"We don't have any kind of relationship. She lets me inspect the bodies, that's all."
Loki raised his eyebrows.
"I'm sure she thinks the same way about it."
"Yes, I'm sure she does," Sherlock replied curtly, desperate to change the topic, "now let me concentrate. If we can identify almost everyone, then who are this Eurus and Helena?"
Loki shrugged.
"We still haven't identified Maximoff either. They could just be people we've only met vaguely. Or..." he paused, as if doubting his own theory, "or people we just haven't met yet in our own universe."
Sherlock dropped his hands to his lap as he tried to grasp what Loki was suggesting.
"You mean..."
"I mean that maybe anyone we don't know here is simply someone we're yet to meet. We could make use of that, actually. Study them here, learn their habits, and know exactly how to handle them when we do meet them."
"In theory it sounds like a masterplan," Sherlock nodded, instantly searching out weak points, "but remember that things are slightly different in this universe, so you'd have to double check all your facts. You can't take anything for granted, not even things you thought you knew about yourself."
"So it could work to our disadvantage as well," Loki agreed, "we'll just have to see. Do we have any more intel on getting back? Because I know you like studying this world, but I sort of have a prison cell to get back to."
"You're free here," Sherlock shrugged, tilting his head curiously, "why go back?"
"Same reason as why you'd go back the moment you could," Loki shrugged, "this world is... odd. And as much as I like being rid of Thor, well... I miss having someone I can stab without them dying on me."
Someone I can stab without them dying on me... I'll have to keep an eye on this one when I get back.
"Well, then we'll focus on getting back," Sherlock decided, "what are our options?"
"One - Bifrost. We can give that another attempt just now, but I wouldn't put too much hope on it. Two - secret gateways, but we'd have to find them and I have no idea where to look. Three - other ideas that I haven't come up with."
All fantasies and mythology. There's got to be a scientific way to do this.
"Are you writing this down?" Loki enquired, and Sherlock jolted slightly.
"Oh, right. John usually does that."
Loki allowed himself a smirk, picking up a notepad and tossing it to Sherlock along with a pen. The pen landed under Sherlock's bedside table, and, to his annoyance, Sherlock had to get off the bed to pick it up.
"While you're at it," Loki suggested, "could you give me back my dagger? I kind of prefer having it with me."
Sherlock picked up the pen and jerked the dagger out of the table. He threw the dagger to Loki, who caught it deftly in his right hand, and sheathed it on his belt.
"What's that paper?" Loki asked, gesturing to the piece of semi-shredded paper that was lying on the bedside table.
"Oh, nothing," Sherlock mumbled, stuffing Irene's letter into one of the drawers.
"It's a letter, isn't it?" Loki raised an eyebrow, "from whom?"
"Irene."
"Do you know her from your world?"
"Yes," Sherlock answered shortly, searching for something else to turn the conversation towards.
"...girlfriend?"
"No, nothing of the sort," Sherlock replied, "just another case."
Loki raised both eyebrows at Sherlock's unconvinced tone of voice.
"My my Sherlock, you seem to have a lot of relationships. Your fangirls must be going crazy, shipping you with anyone you've ever come across. I wonder if anyone ships you with your little companion. John Watson was his name, right? Holmson. There's a shipname already."
"They'd probably avoid the surnames because of my brother."
"Sherjohn then. Or Johnlock. Or ShortLong."
"Stop it Loki," Sherlock snapped, blinking furiously to get the stinging feeling out of his eyes.
"Yes Loki," Sif replied, stepping into the room, "I'd stop if I were you. You're not immortal, you know."
Loki held up his dagger.
"Why do you think I asked this back first?"
Sif grinned.
"You're back to your old self, then? I was starting to get worried, after yesterday."
Loki's smile dropped.
"I'm just the same as yesterday," he grumbled, "which is the same as I've always been. Except now I'm in a different universe."
Sif sighed.
"You're still convinced that that's the case, then?"
"Yes, but I'm not expecting you to believe me," Loki shrugged, "where were we, Sherlock?"
"You mean before you drifted off to shipnames?" Sherlock snarled, somewhat annoyed.
"Yes, before that," Loki rolled his eyes.
"No wait," Sif interrupted, "I like this topic."
She winked at Sherlock, and suddenly Loki felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
This couldn't possibly end well for him.
"Who do you know back at 'your universe', Loki?" Sif enquired, making imaginary quotation marks with her fingers.
"Just a few people," Loki muttered, careful with his words.
"Darcy?" Sif suggested, "I'm sure there's a shipname for you two. Darki. No, that sounds ridiculous. Her surname's Lewis right? How about Lewisson?"
Loki groaned.
"Or that other girl from your class - Wanda, wasn't it?"
"Please stop," Loki muttered.
"Why would we?" Sif shrugged.
"All right, I'm leaving," Loki decided.
He stood up, intending to make himself invisible. He had to pause, and when he finally managed it left him with a headache and black spots at the edges of his vision.
It was costing him more and more effort to use his illusions.
How long would it take before he wouldn't be able to use them at all?