application - hadriel

2016-09-24T05:04:08Z

PLAYER
Player name: Daisy
Contact: seasided
Characters currently in-game: None!

CHARACTER
Character Name: Sherlock Holmes
Character Age: Early 30s
Canon: Sherlock (BBC)
Canon Point: Somewhere in the middle of The Sign of Three - middle of wedding planning

History: wiki

Personality:
Sherlock Holmes is brilliant. There are few who would even begin to argue this point. He’s a genius with a mind that works at an alarming fast pace, processing connections and observations that most would overlook. When he looks at a person, a crime scene, or really anything, instead of simply seeing his mind is at work observing, putting together deductions and reasoning about what is in front of him. He files all this information in an elaborate mind palace that he wanders through mentally to put together some of his more challenging puzzles. All this makes him different. Strange. Not exactly the life of any particular party.

His deductive reasoning is genuinely impressive. When he first meets John Watson, Sherlock knows immediately that the Doctor is recently back from the war, has a psychosomatic limp, and has a strained relationship with his “brother.” The only incorrect detail in that particular string is that John has a sister rather than a brother. He explains his observations, but even when it’s illustrated in black and white, John still finds it remarkable that anyone can compile all those seemingly meaningless details into actual information and conclusions. For Sherlock though, it’s simply how he observes and interacts with the world. This is an important detail. Sherlock is different from most people, separated by his intellect as well as his less-than-gregarious nature.

Sherlock is well aware that his brain works differently than most people’s brains do, and he is not afraid to point this out to, well, anyone. Not caring whether it is condescending or insulting, he’ll flat out tell people how much cleverer he is. He’s never been afraid of alienating or putting people off -- in fact, it’s one of his more substantial talents. Many people who meet him find him to be absolutely insufferable. Others are so put off by him that they think he might be dangerous, that he’s barely any better than the criminals that he helps bring to justice. They fear that one day he may become so bored he won’t wait for a crime to come along to solve.

Really, Sherlock agrees with most of this. He frequently describes himself as a high-functioning sociopath, something that he almost seems to bear as a badge of honor. He also insists that he has no use for sentiment since it is not necessary in his process and would only get get in the way of his investigation and deduction.

The thing is though, it’s not really true.

Even though Sherlock Holmes would like to believe himself a creature of intellect and cold, unfeeling fact and calculation, that has never exactly been true -- and once he meets John Watson, it gets increasingly less and less true. Sherlock may only have a very small number of friends, of genuine human connections, but those he does have are extremely important to him. He comes to value them, and though he can often be dismissive, derisive, insulting, or belittling to those he is closest to, he genuinely cares for them and needs them in his life.

With his landlady, Mrs. Hudson, he is often rude to her, even going so far as to tell her to shut up on more than one occasion. However, if someone else takes that tone with her, he’s quick to leap to her defense. Additionally, when Mrs. Hudson is roughed up and held at gunpoint, he is clearly angered by it, and arranges for her captor to fall out the window a few times. She may be a nuisance to him sometimes (though why she puts up with him at all is still anybody’s guess, regardless of his past help with her former husband’s execution), but she’s an important figure in his life as more than simply his landlady.

His relationship with Greg Lestrade is a professional one of convenience, in many ways. Lestrade recognizes Sherlock’s abilities and is willing to put up with his eccentricities because he knows that the consulting detective has a set of skills that no one else possess, and that Sherlock gets results. However, it goes deeper than that. When Moriarty is trying to discredit Sherlock and frame him as a sham and a con artist, Lestrade doesn’t believe it, and goes so far as to warn Sherlock that the police will be coming for him. Sherlock returns this favor by continually forgetting Lestrade’s first name and casually insulting the mental capacity of Scotland Yard, like a good friend. Still, it’s clear that the Detective Inspector is important to Sherlock, as he’s one of the people that Sherlock seeks out in particular once he is back from the dead. When he first meets John Watson, Lestrade describes Sherlock as “...a great man, and I think one day -- if we’re very, very lucky -- he might even be a good one.”

Sherlock certainly has moments where he doesn’t seem like the best of people; he easily gets swept up in the thrill and excitement of a case, even when there are human lives lost or at stake. He outright denounces caring for the people that Moriarty has taken hostage, asking if caring will help save them. Though at least part of this is defense. For all that he wants to appear as cold and indifferent to the world, Sherlock Holmes is more affected by it than he might want to be. For better or for worse.

Though he can be very unkind, can say cruel and harsh things both deliberately and without even realizing how cutting they may be, he also does have a heart, deep down somewhere. When he goes on a deductive rant about Molly’s Christmas attire and the gift she’s clearly planned for the object of her affections, only to realize that the gift is for him, he seems genuinely taken aback. He apologizes, which seems to shock everyone in the room.

Sherlock is still human, after all. This humanity seems to come out more the more he is around the people he cares about.

But even in his past, it’s revealed that he’s slightly more sentimental than might be expected. He was especially fond of and attached to a childhood dog -- Redbeard, though that's not entirely as it seems either. Additionally, there’s an insecurity in Sherlock that stems from his childhood with his older brother, Mycroft. Mycroft had always led Sherlock to believe that he was stupid -- until they both met other children, when they both realized that both of them were somewhat different than others. Mycroft, however, has always been smarter, and there’s a tension and competition between the brothers, though there may be a strange and sharp-edged affection buried in there somewhere. If you squint. And in his own way, Mycroft does look out for Sherlock.

Sherlock’s interaction with some of the more notable criminals he investigates is also telling. He finds a nemesis in Moriarty -- having an odd and some might say twisted admiration for the consultant criminal, though that doesn’t stop him from trying to stop Moriarty’s plans and ultimately bring him to justice, whatever means necessary. Additionally, he finds a surprising challenge in Irene Adler, and makes a point to save the woman’s life, despite the fact that she had previously tricked him into helping both her and Moriarty.
By far the relationship that impacts Sherlock the most, however, is the one he finds with John Watson. From the moment the other man shows up, the two of them seem to connect in a way that is different for Sherlock. Over time, Sherlock comes to trust John entirely. It’s not always easy. Sherlock is indelicate and says things that are at best unkind and at worst outright insulting. But somehow John continues to more or less forgive him for it. Something in Sherlock changes too, bit by bit, not necessarily softer, but maybe just the faintest bit more human. He even acknowledges as much in himself, saying “I am the most unpleasant, rude, ignorant and all around obnoxious arsehole that anyone can have the misfortune to meet… John I am a ridiculous man, redeemed only by the warmth and constancy of your friendship.” Sherlock understands that having John in his life makes him better as a person, that John understands a lot of the more human, emotional motivations that never occur to him.

The thing with Sherlock though, as boorish and ignorant as he can be, he’s also quite adept at faking human emotion -- having a sham relationship with Janine to get close to her boss, faking being upset and grieved at a crime scene to get information out of the “victim’s” widow. So even if it is not necessarily natural for him, he is bright enough to at least be able to mimic it, well enough. To a degree. He’s woefully inexperienced in the physical side of intimacy -- made obvious when he takes Irene’s pulse when she’s coming onto him (and subsequently lectures her about the dangers of sentiment) and the fact that it appears he and Janine never got very far, despite the fact that he was going to fake propose to her.

Sherlock is a genius, and a child, woefully ignorant of so much, while having far too deep a knowledge in other areas. He loves showing off, is a genuine drama queen. He likes to think himself beyond emotion and beyond attachment, but has proven time and again that it isn’t true. He values reason and logic and observation, thinks himself smarter than those around him, but also recognizes talent and value in people when he sees it. He cares for the people closest to him, and isn’t afraid to do what he has to (regardless of legality) to keep them safe. As he says, he may be on the side of the angels, but he is not one of them.

He’s not without his vices -- cigarettes, drugs. Above all the rush and thrill of the chase, the fight against boredom. He’s flawed and broken, is better at discerning different varieties of tobacco ash than he is at making smalltalk or knowing what others might be thinking. Putting together a Best Man speech is more daunting than facing down a serial killer -- the fact that he’s John’s best friend surprising enough that it strikes him speechless, when so so so precious little in the world can ever stop Sherlock Holmes from speaking. He’s childish and unkind, brilliant and stupid.

Inventory: Long coat, scarf, gloves and nothing even remotely useful for survival.

Abilities: Sherlock is a genius, just ask him. He has an incredible intellect and memory, able to recall details and facts that he's seen or read or learned. Much of this is accomplished through a very intricate mind palace -- a memory technique in which his memories are placed within an imaginary location in his mind that he can then move through to retrieve what he needs to remember. Sherlock is also incredible at deduction and observation, noticing small details and understanding what they mean, their implications near immediately. He analyzes things as he's sees them, his mind is very quick.

He's also a decently talented violinist.

He speaks a number of languages in addition to English. "Condescending Prick" one that he's probably most fluent in.

Flaws: Sherlock refers to himself, often enough, as a high-functioning sociopath. While he generally works to solve crimes and help the police and catch the bad guys, he is not exactly a hero. He seems to delight in the chase, and sometimes forgets about the human toll. In a way, being around John humanizes him a bit, but he still gets swept up in the game, and treats cases as though they are just that. When he speaks with Moriarty, he outright says it. "I may be on the side of the angels, but don't think for one second that I am one."

He's capable of anger and seeking revenge -- throwing an intruder out the window several times because he had hurt Mrs. Hudson. And later than his current canon point, he also shows himself capable of murder without hesitation, when it came to saving his friends from the Magnussen's blackmail and extortion.

SAMPLES
Action Log Sample: test drive threads

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