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deductives[PLAYER INFO]
NAME: Erin
AGE: 23
JOURNAL:aconstantode
IM: Cupidsvictim2020 (AIM)
PLURK: shadeofwrong
E-MAIL: pumpkin_queen130@yahoo.com
[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Sherlock Holmes
SERIES: BBC's Sherlock
CHRONOLOGY: 2x03, The Reichenbach Fall
CLASS: HMM well, he has some very anti-hero tendencies, but isn't outright villainous or side switching at any time, so I'm going to go with hero. In spite of what he says about himself.
There is nothing particularly extraordinary about Sherlock's world in the view of the average eye. This, however, is precisely why he derides that which is average. The world is entirely extraordinary, but people choose not to see it that way. Super-powers and magic don't exist, but the ingenuity of the human mind and its effects on other men and nature are all he needs to be entertained. Specifically in how people try and commit crimes-- Sherlock finds that the criminal mind is often the most clever and the most challenging to dissect.
Because of this, and his own astounding intellect, the London-based Sherlock has elected to become a consulting detective-- a job title he invented to describe his constant showing up of New Scotland Yard, whether it be at the behest of Detective Inspector Lestrade, the only policeman he trusts, or random civilian clients who, for whatever reason, don't want to go to the police. They come with their claims to his website, The Science of Deduction, and as long as their cases are interesting enough, Sherlock will be on them. He never even requests to be on the police payroll so long as he's granted a certain degree of freedom and the thrill of the game: Solving crimes and chasing down the perpetrators.
His distant past, like in most Holmesian adaptations, is kept mysterious, and the series starts when his career, while still obscure, is already underway. In the course of investigating a string of suspiciously similar suicides with completely unrelated victims, he meets Dr. John Watson. John's mix of medical and military experience masked by an average exterior intrigues him enough to invite him into a flatshare at 221b Baker Street. It proves to be a valuable choice, as John saves Sherlock from the murderer behind the supposed suicides.
The two form a fast, if not sometimes problematic friendship. John is continually frustrated by Sherlock's inability to keep the flat in order, explain his plans, and his penchant for keeping body parts in the fridge and interrupting his social calls. Sherlock, on the other hand, is confounded by John's initial lack of enthusiasm for some of his investigation methods, like staying up all night to decipher a book based code, or rooting through a dead traveler's suitcase to find clues on his previous whereabouts. The loyalty that grows between them, however, becomes hard to ignore, try as they might. John continues to aid Sherlock in solving smuggling related murders during dates, and the first time Sherlock ever expressed real panic is when he realizes the murderers have kidnapped John and his girlfriend. It spurs him to solve the cypher at record speed, before coming to his friend's rescue and showing some of his first signs of concern for other people.
Little does Sherlock know that these cases he and John have solved together are linked by the mysterious figure of Moriarty, who soon after assassinating the leader of the smugglers begins to terrorize London with a series of bombings. Each bomb is attached to a person and comes with a puzzle linked to a seemingly unrelated crime all staged for Sherlock to solve. As it turns out, Moriarty has been following him for some time while Sherlock stumbled around the edges of his criminal empire without even knowing. At first, Sherlock is completely engaged in the game Moriarty has created for him, going through three cases in a matter of days. He's almost gleeful that a criminal mind exists on the same level as his own genius. Sherlock disregards the danger of the situations and of the fact that Moriarty is displaying evidence of dangerous obsession with the detective, all behind the voices of his bomb victims. The detective remains determined to keep his cold outlook on solving cases, much to the anger of John. However, when an old woman strapped to a bomb begins to describe Moriarty, she is killed along with anyone in the radius of the blast. Sherlock is visibly shaken by this outcome, though it only forces him deeper into his shell of brain machinery.
It's not until John becomes the last of those involved in Moriarty's bomb plot that Sherlock is forced to show his emotional hand by his now firmly established nemesis. He arranges to meet Moriarty for the first time at the scene of the first crime Sherlock tried to solve-- and also Moriarty's first murder. He's horrified when at first only John appears, and it derails his logical thinking for half a second, allowing him to consider the horrifying possibility that the only person he could call his friend had been lying to him all along. Sherlock bottles it up quickly when John reveals the vest of explosives strapped to him, and the real Moriarty appears. Sherlock realizes he's been fooled by the man named Jim already, as he showed up right under his nose in St. Bart's hospital posing as the boyfriend of his favored mortician, Molly. The intense confrontation seems to give Moriarty a complete checkmate: He has snipers on both men, even when John tries to sacrifice himself for Sherlock. He exposes Sherlock's hidden care for other people-- the heart he claims not to have. With an earned arrogance, Moriarty seems to leave Sherlock with a threat: If he has no intention of being Jim's playmate, stay out of his business or face the fire. Once he vanishes, Sherlock removes John's bomb vest and throws it across the room, his cool demeanor collapsing again to make sure his friend is alright. It's a moment of clarity for them. They've just clearly displayed they'd die for each other, and the term “friend” between them no longer seems so strange. Unfortunately, Jim reappears, as do the sights of his snipers, deciding he needs to kill them immediately after all. After a nerve fraying second of Sherlock deciding it would be better to shoot the vest and blow them all up rather than have Moriarty escape with them dead, a phone call shatters the silence, and whatever the person on the other end has to say changes Moriarty's mind again. He recedes into shadows again, leaving Sherlock uncertain, and ever vigilant, for when he might return to demand the detective's limelight.
Months pass, and with the help of John's internet chronicles of Sherlock's cases, he's propelled to web stardom. He tends to ignore it, annoyed by publicity threatening the privacy of his work. Of course, not only average people end up reading John's blog, and one day they find themselves in Buckingham Palace, coerced into royal employ by Sherlock's brother Mycroft, a shady government official with whom he rarely gets along. He's assigned to retrieve scandalous photos of one of the royal family from a woman named Irene Adler, a professional dominatrix residing in the posh Belgravia section of London. Confident as always, Sherlock believes he can clear up the matter within hours, but upon meeting Miss Adler, greeted noticeably by her naked body, he realizes her mind is not like other women's. In the midst of their clash of wits, several agents from the CIA attack Irene's apartment, also after the camera phone Sherlock and John have come to retrieve. Sherlock tries to posture his way out of the situation until they threaten to kill John, but once he cracks the code on Irene's safe, the three are able to overpower the Americans. In the rush to get the police to the scene, however, Irene tricks and drugs Sherlock, allowing her to reclaim her phone full of valuable information and escape. The entire event has a strange effect on Sherlock, leaving him fascinated by the woman able to not only keep up with him, but outsmart him. These are foreign feelings, but they allow him to develop ever slightly in the area of empathy. More months pass, and he still can't seem to shake the thought of her. At Christmas time, after effortlessly insulting Molly as he's prone to do, he realizes how she must feel, being infatuated with him. Even rarer than his instances of thanking John, Sherlock apologizes for possibly the first time. Not long after this, however, Sherlock discovers a gift from Irene: the phone she valued above her own life. This can only mean one thing: she was dead. Mycroft accompanies Sherlock to the morgue to make sure he's correct, and in an unusual turn of events, the brothers share a moment of contemplation about how they are compared to other people: Cold, distant, and sometimes cruel because of it. Mycroft has no plans to change this, but Sherlock almost seems uncertain. Once the detective retreats from St. Bart's, Mycroft calls John and warns him of it being a “danger night.” Sherlock's addictive past has apparently reared its head to the two before, and emotions are usually the cause. This contemplative depression lasts for about a week, leading Sherlock to compose sad music on his violin, not speak for days, not even to John or their landlady and almost surrogate mother, Mrs. Hudson. Only when Irene reveals she's faked her death does he seem to snap out of it, and with a fit of anger that he takes out again on the CIA agents still looking for Irene's phone, the gift she left in Sherlock's possession. He walks in on them tearing apart 221b and torturing Mrs. Hudson, which he returns by beating the lead CIA man senseless and throwing him out a window. Again, emotions are starting to manifest in defense of those he cares about.
Soon, Irene seems to come to Sherlock for his help, and perhaps eager to prove himself to her, he unwittingly feeds her information that she sends to Moriarty, foiling Mycroft's plans to stage a terrorist attack in an attempt to save several hundred lives. Sherlock doesn't take well to this thorough humiliation, especially not after sharing nearly intimate moments with Irene, and sharing a love for the game of wits. Once Irene reveals Moriarty was behind it all, he's able to unlock her phone by revealing that she had been in love with him all along. Too angry to feel mercy, he leaves her to Mycroft and whoever wants to take her once the information on her phone is in government hands.
As for if Sherlock felt any love for Irene at all, he holds on to her out of service phone as a keepsake, and when Mycroft and John believe they're hiding the reality of her death in Pakistan from him, he holds, as usual, the bigger gambit. Sherlock prevented her execution by terrorists and whisked Irene away to where she'd never be found, even at the price of never seeing her again.
Things continue as normal, or as normal as they can be at 221b, with a particularly intriguing case that takes Sherlock on a deeper emotional journey than he dreamed it would. Investigating the death of a man in a village near a government facility rumored to house genetic experiments, a twenty year old murder turns out to be linked to a chemical designed to induce terror, hallucinations, and paranoia in whoever ingested it. Before this comes to light, Sherlock is challenged in his firm logic and scientific beliefs by seeing a monstrous hound. For the first time he shows real fear, to the confusion and worry of John, who Sherlock only spurns in an attempt to once more retreat into his emotionless shell. That no longer works, and he is able to reveal to John for the first time in words that the doctor is his only real friend. Though he still experiments with John's reactions to the fear toxin, he is sincere, and the two solve the case, saving the life of the son of the murdered man and effectively disproving the existence of any monster dog that haunted him.
While this is going on, however, we learn that Mycroft has had Moriarty in government custody, but for whatever reason, releases him. As Sherlock's reputation continues to skyrocket as he gets more cases from more high profile people, something sinister is brewing in the background. He is initially flippant about his attention in the press, not even caring to read it, but John warns him that he needs to be prepared for a turn in opinion. Sherlock is certain that he can handle people hating him, as he has his whole life. But soon Moriarty surprises them by getting himself arrested when he attempts to steal the crown jewels while simultaneously opening the national bank vault and overriding London's prison security system. Nothing is taken, no one escapes, but Sherlock sees the flexing of power, and the message Jim sends to his clients: GET SHERLOCK.
Sherlock's pride becomes a massive issue when he's called to testify at Moriarty's trial, correcting the lawyers and the judge so much that he ends up in contempt of court. Moriarty, though the evidence is clearly against him, is acquitted through his own plan and quickly comes to visit Sherlock in Baker Street. They exchange witticisms as always, but Moriarty reveals that he has the ability to unlock any sort of system or lock or password in the world, and is selling it to the highest bidder. Sherlock remains stone faced when Jim threatens him with a fall, though it slowly dawns on him what's about to happen. Moriarty has spread seeds of doubt in all of the places Sherlock has built up respect. He's soon framed for a kidnapping Moriarty arranged, and all of Scotland Yard is turned against him when the idea that perhaps Sherlock has been faking his entire career starts to spread. It spreads to the media as well, through a reporter Sherlock humiliated and who Moriarty shacked up with under the guise of an actor named Richard Brook. As he later discovers, in the course of Moriarty's imprisonment, Mycroft fed him details about Sherlock's life in order to get him to talk. Both Holmes brothers had fallen hopelessly into the web of Moriarty's games.
Every avenue and door is closing on Sherlock, and even though it's brilliant, even though Moriarty's skill is damnably impressive, for the first time Sherlock wants to back down from the challenge. Over his time at Baker Street, he's realized he has things that he can lose. Only John and Mrs. Hudson remain on his side, and soon the police are pursuing him. He takes refuge in the St. Bart's lab Molly lets him use, and he finally acknowledges how important that mousy, unremarkable, and almost invisible woman is to him. With the faith of a few remaining that Sherlock is indeed who he says he is, he arranges to confront Moriarty on the roof of St. Bart's and put an end to the personal nightmare that has been persisting for days. He has John believe Mrs. Hudson has been shot so that he leaves the hospital, and when he refuses to accompany him, John makes their last face to face conversation an angry one. Sherlock accepts that and is soon on the roof, alone with Jim.
Moriarty reveals that the ultimate code was just a ruse to get Sherlock into another game, and laments how boring the world is in reality, opposed to the grandiose plans Sherlock always seems to think are in place. He does his best to outwit the consulting criminal, who expresses how boring is again now that Sherlock is so thoroughly defeated. It all seems to be for naught, however, as Moriarty reveals he has hitmen set on John, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade, who will all be killed if Sherlock doesn't jump from the roof and kill himself, completing the fall he orchestrated. Sherlock pulls out his last gambit, and for the first time, Jim almost seems scared of him-- Sherlock is prepared to do anything at all to win. He isn't the magnanimous man everyone once thought he was; he will kill and be killed to save his friends. The two shake hands, realizing they are one in the same on different sides of the law, and then Jim promptly puts a gun in his mouth and shoots himself. Sherlock realizes this was Moriarty's trump card. Without Jim's word, there was no way to stop the assassins.
Before Sherlock can jump, John arrives on the street below. He calls his friend, emotion cracking his voice in another rare display. Tears are streaming down Sherlock's face when he does what he can to secure his friend's safety. He tells John that all of Moriarty's lies were the truth from the start, and that he can't possibly be as clever as he's always acted. John doesn't believe him, and Sherlock knows he doesn't. He still says goodbye, and then, as it seems, jumps to his death on the pavement below.
But there is always more than what it seems to Sherlock Holmes, and with the help of invisible Molly that Moriarty didn't account for, Sherlock somehow appears alive at the cemetery where everyone believes he was buried, watching John mourn the empty grave from afar. How he survived is a mystery, just like everything else in his life.
PERSONALITY:
With a boastful title like the World’s Greatest Detective, you better expect him to have more than one flimsy flaw. Oh, and that he does. Sherlock can be a perfect gentleman, but only when he feels so inclined, which is usually when he needs data for a case. At this time he can be incredibly devious to get things to go his way, and be oozing with charm. Otherwise, his social skills aren’t the most graceful. In fact, they’re downright deplorable. He speaks whenever and however he sees fit, never sparing the feelings of others nor caring what they think. Insults and sarcasm are his favorites, and he will use them to condescend even the most hapless victim. His work makes him paranoid to a fault, up to the point where he considers his older brother his “archenemy” for attempting to keep tabs on family. His senses of sympathy or empathy are more often than not non-existent. Unsurprisingly, Sherlock doesn’t have many friends because of this, and he doesn’t particularly care. His love, his obsession, and his life all lie in his work.
Anywhere he lives reflects the generally full state of his brain; a cluttered mess of case information, weird science experiments, books, letters and the like. Oddly enough, one can’t quite call it disorganized, as he knows exactly where everything is (most of the time). Potential roommates beware—he will keep body parts in the fridge.
Sherlock can also be quite the recluse, occasionally never leaving home for days-- even weeks-- on end if he has no case to occupy his mind. He loses all sense of those around him in these periods, as well as his sense of time. While most normal behavior already irritates him, he easily becomes livid in these states, and has been known to resort to shooting walls in an attempt to simply not be bored anymore. More than anything in the world, Sherlock detests, hates, utterly loathes being bored. It is such a strong feeling that he is sometimes willing to endanger himself or others to simply put his mind back to work.
That leads to his ego, which is to say, Sherlock is not the most humble man you’ll ever encounter. Though he’ll let police take credit for his brilliance, he is well aware of his genius and its absence in everyone else around him and will voice it whenever he gets the opportunity. Occasionally he’ll be showier than is necessary in order to impress those witnessing his methods of investigation, but fortunately, it doesn’t hinder his skills. Usually, it just annoys others, but again, it hardly stops him. Sherlock loves being correct almost as much as he hates being bored.
When Sherlock is on a case, he is often compared to a bloodhound or a machine. Both are accurate comparisons, as once he enters a crime scene, there is very little that can distract his intense focus. This is what leads him to notice whatever the average person would more than likely miss. As he puts it, he doesn’t just see; he observes.
After all this, one could guess that Sherlock, though he solves crimes, is something of a heartless bastard, and he would let you believe that. However, this is not exactly the case. Sherlock is indeed obsessive and possessed of an addictive personality—both to danger and being proven right. But ever since meeting John, he’s started to realize he can’t do everything on his own, and occasionally help from an actual friend is an invaluable resource. He doesn’t have to be alone in everything anymore. Since Irene Adler jarred his heart into the forefront of a case, he's even allowed himself to exhibit sympathy, though in a limited capacity. Sherlock has been introduced to being hurt and to loss, and while they were somewhat traumatic experiences, especially in regards to his fall, they have worked well to humanize him more than his cloistered self used to be.
POWER:
Intelligence. Scary, scary intelligence. Sherlock is a master in the art of deductive reasoning. He is able to use the smallest bits of the environment to determine the truth of events around him, usually by reconstructing the events backwards in his head, as well as using a person’s mannerisms to determine what their immediate future actions will be. His mind is always on. Always. He is a skilled chemist, and has extensive knowledge of toxicology, anatomy, biology, geology and its related forensic functions, and criminal history in all corners of the world.
Aside from his startling intellect, Sherlock, in spite of his wiry frame, has a good bit of athleticism in him as well. Lithe and agile, he can hold his own in a fight, having learned several forms of hand to hand combat. He is almost acrobatic in his movements, and it isn’t unheard of him to scale buildings or jump from roof to roof when in pursuit of a criminal.
Because of his penchant for theatrics, Sherlock makes good use of acting and disguises when he’s working. He slips in and out of roles with a seamless fluidity; able to feign tears quite convincingly one moment and be completely dry eyed the next.
Other assorted things he can do include handling guns, though not always as proficiently as possible, and speak several languages including French and German. Also he can play a mean violin, if he feels inclined to play it well.
As for actual super-powers he'll get upon being imported, though it will take him some time to discover and control it, Sherlock will gain the ability to phase through solid objects. When it’s dark enough, this doubles as the ability to become a shadow restricted to walls and floors until he returns to his normal form. The latter facet of the power will probably be dormant for a while, as there’s not many accidental ways to realize it. He’ll notice his phasing, however, when his feet get stuck in floors and the like.
I found it fitting for him as he has little regard for locks and what might be private to others, especially if he needs to break past privacy to collect data he needs for his work. It would also allow him to argue technicalities on whether he’s actually broken and entered places when there’s nothing he’s broken. The shadow part of the ability originates in how he is already able to blend in perfectly wherever he sees fit to, also to sneak around. It would take his metaphorical sinking into shadows to a new literal level.
[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:
I never was particularly fond of the quantum mechanics branch of the sciences, but if someone would like to explain how a man can fall asleep in London and wake up in New York without being in any sort of transport, I'd love to hear all about it.
[That's a lie, of course, but as long as he's in a foreign situation he sees no clean route out of just yet, he'll be as duplicitous as he sees fit. No one needs to know they're reading the words of a potential dead man.]
Or an even better question in the interest of Queen and Country, I suppose: Why is Big Ben visible across the Hudson River?
I also need painkillers. Strong ones. Surely this isn't too much to ask of a place apparently capable of either teleportation or interdimensional travel.
-SH
LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:
New York City. Of the limited number of places Sherlock could have regained consciousness, New York wasn't one of them; couldn't be one of them. St. Bartholomew's morgue, and the other two options for the more romantic, heaven or hell; currently New York seemed the closest to the latter. His whole body hurt, though he felt no broken bones. Using the device given to him upon his arrival, he tried to phone Mycroft. His personal number and multiple government extensions were all disconnected. Sherlock already tested himself to see if he was dreaming, maybe even hallucinating-- he wasn't.
Dried blood still streaked down his face and caked to his hair and clothes as he made his way down to street level. If anyone planned on trying to talk to him, his battered appearance made them think twice. A few tried to direct him to a hospital, but Sherlock only brushed them off and quickly made his way to the apartments listed in his imPort pamphlet. There would be time to explore once his head stopped throbbing almost as hard as his heartbeat.
Was this some sort of endorphin induced afterlife that would peter out at any second? He may have ruled out hallucinations, but Sherlock can't be sure if he survived his fall. Even more frustrating, he now can't be sure that John and the others survived because of it. His last memories before awakening in the tower were filled with images of Jim Moriarty, brains noticeably splattered on the rooftop, and of John Watson, heart invisibly shattering on the pavement.
Sherlock laid back on the cot in his room, dangling the dog tag he'd received above his head. He'd seen them before, shoved into the flesh of the mouths of dead men. This one plainly stated his status as "hero." Laughable, at best. Sherlock clenched the tag into his fist, running his thumb along the letters on the other side deigning a new code name: THE CONSULTANT.
FINAL NOTES:
Since Sherlock will be arriving after just having jumped off a building, at least as far as I can possibly know, he will be covered in blood and a generally alarming sight. Since I don't know how Sherlock survived the fall, if he even was really the body that did fall, etc., he won't be in a terrible physical state beyond the blood when he arrives, just incredibly sore and horrible looking.
NAME: Erin
AGE: 23
JOURNAL:
aconstantodeIM: Cupidsvictim2020 (AIM)
PLURK: shadeofwrong
E-MAIL: pumpkin_queen130@yahoo.com
[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Sherlock Holmes
SERIES: BBC's Sherlock
CHRONOLOGY: 2x03, The Reichenbach Fall
CLASS: HMM well, he has some very anti-hero tendencies, but isn't outright villainous or side switching at any time, so I'm going to go with hero. In spite of what he says about himself.
There is nothing particularly extraordinary about Sherlock's world in the view of the average eye. This, however, is precisely why he derides that which is average. The world is entirely extraordinary, but people choose not to see it that way. Super-powers and magic don't exist, but the ingenuity of the human mind and its effects on other men and nature are all he needs to be entertained. Specifically in how people try and commit crimes-- Sherlock finds that the criminal mind is often the most clever and the most challenging to dissect.
Because of this, and his own astounding intellect, the London-based Sherlock has elected to become a consulting detective-- a job title he invented to describe his constant showing up of New Scotland Yard, whether it be at the behest of Detective Inspector Lestrade, the only policeman he trusts, or random civilian clients who, for whatever reason, don't want to go to the police. They come with their claims to his website, The Science of Deduction, and as long as their cases are interesting enough, Sherlock will be on them. He never even requests to be on the police payroll so long as he's granted a certain degree of freedom and the thrill of the game: Solving crimes and chasing down the perpetrators.
His distant past, like in most Holmesian adaptations, is kept mysterious, and the series starts when his career, while still obscure, is already underway. In the course of investigating a string of suspiciously similar suicides with completely unrelated victims, he meets Dr. John Watson. John's mix of medical and military experience masked by an average exterior intrigues him enough to invite him into a flatshare at 221b Baker Street. It proves to be a valuable choice, as John saves Sherlock from the murderer behind the supposed suicides.
The two form a fast, if not sometimes problematic friendship. John is continually frustrated by Sherlock's inability to keep the flat in order, explain his plans, and his penchant for keeping body parts in the fridge and interrupting his social calls. Sherlock, on the other hand, is confounded by John's initial lack of enthusiasm for some of his investigation methods, like staying up all night to decipher a book based code, or rooting through a dead traveler's suitcase to find clues on his previous whereabouts. The loyalty that grows between them, however, becomes hard to ignore, try as they might. John continues to aid Sherlock in solving smuggling related murders during dates, and the first time Sherlock ever expressed real panic is when he realizes the murderers have kidnapped John and his girlfriend. It spurs him to solve the cypher at record speed, before coming to his friend's rescue and showing some of his first signs of concern for other people.
Little does Sherlock know that these cases he and John have solved together are linked by the mysterious figure of Moriarty, who soon after assassinating the leader of the smugglers begins to terrorize London with a series of bombings. Each bomb is attached to a person and comes with a puzzle linked to a seemingly unrelated crime all staged for Sherlock to solve. As it turns out, Moriarty has been following him for some time while Sherlock stumbled around the edges of his criminal empire without even knowing. At first, Sherlock is completely engaged in the game Moriarty has created for him, going through three cases in a matter of days. He's almost gleeful that a criminal mind exists on the same level as his own genius. Sherlock disregards the danger of the situations and of the fact that Moriarty is displaying evidence of dangerous obsession with the detective, all behind the voices of his bomb victims. The detective remains determined to keep his cold outlook on solving cases, much to the anger of John. However, when an old woman strapped to a bomb begins to describe Moriarty, she is killed along with anyone in the radius of the blast. Sherlock is visibly shaken by this outcome, though it only forces him deeper into his shell of brain machinery.
It's not until John becomes the last of those involved in Moriarty's bomb plot that Sherlock is forced to show his emotional hand by his now firmly established nemesis. He arranges to meet Moriarty for the first time at the scene of the first crime Sherlock tried to solve-- and also Moriarty's first murder. He's horrified when at first only John appears, and it derails his logical thinking for half a second, allowing him to consider the horrifying possibility that the only person he could call his friend had been lying to him all along. Sherlock bottles it up quickly when John reveals the vest of explosives strapped to him, and the real Moriarty appears. Sherlock realizes he's been fooled by the man named Jim already, as he showed up right under his nose in St. Bart's hospital posing as the boyfriend of his favored mortician, Molly. The intense confrontation seems to give Moriarty a complete checkmate: He has snipers on both men, even when John tries to sacrifice himself for Sherlock. He exposes Sherlock's hidden care for other people-- the heart he claims not to have. With an earned arrogance, Moriarty seems to leave Sherlock with a threat: If he has no intention of being Jim's playmate, stay out of his business or face the fire. Once he vanishes, Sherlock removes John's bomb vest and throws it across the room, his cool demeanor collapsing again to make sure his friend is alright. It's a moment of clarity for them. They've just clearly displayed they'd die for each other, and the term “friend” between them no longer seems so strange. Unfortunately, Jim reappears, as do the sights of his snipers, deciding he needs to kill them immediately after all. After a nerve fraying second of Sherlock deciding it would be better to shoot the vest and blow them all up rather than have Moriarty escape with them dead, a phone call shatters the silence, and whatever the person on the other end has to say changes Moriarty's mind again. He recedes into shadows again, leaving Sherlock uncertain, and ever vigilant, for when he might return to demand the detective's limelight.
Months pass, and with the help of John's internet chronicles of Sherlock's cases, he's propelled to web stardom. He tends to ignore it, annoyed by publicity threatening the privacy of his work. Of course, not only average people end up reading John's blog, and one day they find themselves in Buckingham Palace, coerced into royal employ by Sherlock's brother Mycroft, a shady government official with whom he rarely gets along. He's assigned to retrieve scandalous photos of one of the royal family from a woman named Irene Adler, a professional dominatrix residing in the posh Belgravia section of London. Confident as always, Sherlock believes he can clear up the matter within hours, but upon meeting Miss Adler, greeted noticeably by her naked body, he realizes her mind is not like other women's. In the midst of their clash of wits, several agents from the CIA attack Irene's apartment, also after the camera phone Sherlock and John have come to retrieve. Sherlock tries to posture his way out of the situation until they threaten to kill John, but once he cracks the code on Irene's safe, the three are able to overpower the Americans. In the rush to get the police to the scene, however, Irene tricks and drugs Sherlock, allowing her to reclaim her phone full of valuable information and escape. The entire event has a strange effect on Sherlock, leaving him fascinated by the woman able to not only keep up with him, but outsmart him. These are foreign feelings, but they allow him to develop ever slightly in the area of empathy. More months pass, and he still can't seem to shake the thought of her. At Christmas time, after effortlessly insulting Molly as he's prone to do, he realizes how she must feel, being infatuated with him. Even rarer than his instances of thanking John, Sherlock apologizes for possibly the first time. Not long after this, however, Sherlock discovers a gift from Irene: the phone she valued above her own life. This can only mean one thing: she was dead. Mycroft accompanies Sherlock to the morgue to make sure he's correct, and in an unusual turn of events, the brothers share a moment of contemplation about how they are compared to other people: Cold, distant, and sometimes cruel because of it. Mycroft has no plans to change this, but Sherlock almost seems uncertain. Once the detective retreats from St. Bart's, Mycroft calls John and warns him of it being a “danger night.” Sherlock's addictive past has apparently reared its head to the two before, and emotions are usually the cause. This contemplative depression lasts for about a week, leading Sherlock to compose sad music on his violin, not speak for days, not even to John or their landlady and almost surrogate mother, Mrs. Hudson. Only when Irene reveals she's faked her death does he seem to snap out of it, and with a fit of anger that he takes out again on the CIA agents still looking for Irene's phone, the gift she left in Sherlock's possession. He walks in on them tearing apart 221b and torturing Mrs. Hudson, which he returns by beating the lead CIA man senseless and throwing him out a window. Again, emotions are starting to manifest in defense of those he cares about.
Soon, Irene seems to come to Sherlock for his help, and perhaps eager to prove himself to her, he unwittingly feeds her information that she sends to Moriarty, foiling Mycroft's plans to stage a terrorist attack in an attempt to save several hundred lives. Sherlock doesn't take well to this thorough humiliation, especially not after sharing nearly intimate moments with Irene, and sharing a love for the game of wits. Once Irene reveals Moriarty was behind it all, he's able to unlock her phone by revealing that she had been in love with him all along. Too angry to feel mercy, he leaves her to Mycroft and whoever wants to take her once the information on her phone is in government hands.
As for if Sherlock felt any love for Irene at all, he holds on to her out of service phone as a keepsake, and when Mycroft and John believe they're hiding the reality of her death in Pakistan from him, he holds, as usual, the bigger gambit. Sherlock prevented her execution by terrorists and whisked Irene away to where she'd never be found, even at the price of never seeing her again.
Things continue as normal, or as normal as they can be at 221b, with a particularly intriguing case that takes Sherlock on a deeper emotional journey than he dreamed it would. Investigating the death of a man in a village near a government facility rumored to house genetic experiments, a twenty year old murder turns out to be linked to a chemical designed to induce terror, hallucinations, and paranoia in whoever ingested it. Before this comes to light, Sherlock is challenged in his firm logic and scientific beliefs by seeing a monstrous hound. For the first time he shows real fear, to the confusion and worry of John, who Sherlock only spurns in an attempt to once more retreat into his emotionless shell. That no longer works, and he is able to reveal to John for the first time in words that the doctor is his only real friend. Though he still experiments with John's reactions to the fear toxin, he is sincere, and the two solve the case, saving the life of the son of the murdered man and effectively disproving the existence of any monster dog that haunted him.
While this is going on, however, we learn that Mycroft has had Moriarty in government custody, but for whatever reason, releases him. As Sherlock's reputation continues to skyrocket as he gets more cases from more high profile people, something sinister is brewing in the background. He is initially flippant about his attention in the press, not even caring to read it, but John warns him that he needs to be prepared for a turn in opinion. Sherlock is certain that he can handle people hating him, as he has his whole life. But soon Moriarty surprises them by getting himself arrested when he attempts to steal the crown jewels while simultaneously opening the national bank vault and overriding London's prison security system. Nothing is taken, no one escapes, but Sherlock sees the flexing of power, and the message Jim sends to his clients: GET SHERLOCK.
Sherlock's pride becomes a massive issue when he's called to testify at Moriarty's trial, correcting the lawyers and the judge so much that he ends up in contempt of court. Moriarty, though the evidence is clearly against him, is acquitted through his own plan and quickly comes to visit Sherlock in Baker Street. They exchange witticisms as always, but Moriarty reveals that he has the ability to unlock any sort of system or lock or password in the world, and is selling it to the highest bidder. Sherlock remains stone faced when Jim threatens him with a fall, though it slowly dawns on him what's about to happen. Moriarty has spread seeds of doubt in all of the places Sherlock has built up respect. He's soon framed for a kidnapping Moriarty arranged, and all of Scotland Yard is turned against him when the idea that perhaps Sherlock has been faking his entire career starts to spread. It spreads to the media as well, through a reporter Sherlock humiliated and who Moriarty shacked up with under the guise of an actor named Richard Brook. As he later discovers, in the course of Moriarty's imprisonment, Mycroft fed him details about Sherlock's life in order to get him to talk. Both Holmes brothers had fallen hopelessly into the web of Moriarty's games.
Every avenue and door is closing on Sherlock, and even though it's brilliant, even though Moriarty's skill is damnably impressive, for the first time Sherlock wants to back down from the challenge. Over his time at Baker Street, he's realized he has things that he can lose. Only John and Mrs. Hudson remain on his side, and soon the police are pursuing him. He takes refuge in the St. Bart's lab Molly lets him use, and he finally acknowledges how important that mousy, unremarkable, and almost invisible woman is to him. With the faith of a few remaining that Sherlock is indeed who he says he is, he arranges to confront Moriarty on the roof of St. Bart's and put an end to the personal nightmare that has been persisting for days. He has John believe Mrs. Hudson has been shot so that he leaves the hospital, and when he refuses to accompany him, John makes their last face to face conversation an angry one. Sherlock accepts that and is soon on the roof, alone with Jim.
Moriarty reveals that the ultimate code was just a ruse to get Sherlock into another game, and laments how boring the world is in reality, opposed to the grandiose plans Sherlock always seems to think are in place. He does his best to outwit the consulting criminal, who expresses how boring is again now that Sherlock is so thoroughly defeated. It all seems to be for naught, however, as Moriarty reveals he has hitmen set on John, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade, who will all be killed if Sherlock doesn't jump from the roof and kill himself, completing the fall he orchestrated. Sherlock pulls out his last gambit, and for the first time, Jim almost seems scared of him-- Sherlock is prepared to do anything at all to win. He isn't the magnanimous man everyone once thought he was; he will kill and be killed to save his friends. The two shake hands, realizing they are one in the same on different sides of the law, and then Jim promptly puts a gun in his mouth and shoots himself. Sherlock realizes this was Moriarty's trump card. Without Jim's word, there was no way to stop the assassins.
Before Sherlock can jump, John arrives on the street below. He calls his friend, emotion cracking his voice in another rare display. Tears are streaming down Sherlock's face when he does what he can to secure his friend's safety. He tells John that all of Moriarty's lies were the truth from the start, and that he can't possibly be as clever as he's always acted. John doesn't believe him, and Sherlock knows he doesn't. He still says goodbye, and then, as it seems, jumps to his death on the pavement below.
But there is always more than what it seems to Sherlock Holmes, and with the help of invisible Molly that Moriarty didn't account for, Sherlock somehow appears alive at the cemetery where everyone believes he was buried, watching John mourn the empty grave from afar. How he survived is a mystery, just like everything else in his life.
PERSONALITY:
With a boastful title like the World’s Greatest Detective, you better expect him to have more than one flimsy flaw. Oh, and that he does. Sherlock can be a perfect gentleman, but only when he feels so inclined, which is usually when he needs data for a case. At this time he can be incredibly devious to get things to go his way, and be oozing with charm. Otherwise, his social skills aren’t the most graceful. In fact, they’re downright deplorable. He speaks whenever and however he sees fit, never sparing the feelings of others nor caring what they think. Insults and sarcasm are his favorites, and he will use them to condescend even the most hapless victim. His work makes him paranoid to a fault, up to the point where he considers his older brother his “archenemy” for attempting to keep tabs on family. His senses of sympathy or empathy are more often than not non-existent. Unsurprisingly, Sherlock doesn’t have many friends because of this, and he doesn’t particularly care. His love, his obsession, and his life all lie in his work.
Anywhere he lives reflects the generally full state of his brain; a cluttered mess of case information, weird science experiments, books, letters and the like. Oddly enough, one can’t quite call it disorganized, as he knows exactly where everything is (most of the time). Potential roommates beware—he will keep body parts in the fridge.
Sherlock can also be quite the recluse, occasionally never leaving home for days-- even weeks-- on end if he has no case to occupy his mind. He loses all sense of those around him in these periods, as well as his sense of time. While most normal behavior already irritates him, he easily becomes livid in these states, and has been known to resort to shooting walls in an attempt to simply not be bored anymore. More than anything in the world, Sherlock detests, hates, utterly loathes being bored. It is such a strong feeling that he is sometimes willing to endanger himself or others to simply put his mind back to work.
That leads to his ego, which is to say, Sherlock is not the most humble man you’ll ever encounter. Though he’ll let police take credit for his brilliance, he is well aware of his genius and its absence in everyone else around him and will voice it whenever he gets the opportunity. Occasionally he’ll be showier than is necessary in order to impress those witnessing his methods of investigation, but fortunately, it doesn’t hinder his skills. Usually, it just annoys others, but again, it hardly stops him. Sherlock loves being correct almost as much as he hates being bored.
When Sherlock is on a case, he is often compared to a bloodhound or a machine. Both are accurate comparisons, as once he enters a crime scene, there is very little that can distract his intense focus. This is what leads him to notice whatever the average person would more than likely miss. As he puts it, he doesn’t just see; he observes.
After all this, one could guess that Sherlock, though he solves crimes, is something of a heartless bastard, and he would let you believe that. However, this is not exactly the case. Sherlock is indeed obsessive and possessed of an addictive personality—both to danger and being proven right. But ever since meeting John, he’s started to realize he can’t do everything on his own, and occasionally help from an actual friend is an invaluable resource. He doesn’t have to be alone in everything anymore. Since Irene Adler jarred his heart into the forefront of a case, he's even allowed himself to exhibit sympathy, though in a limited capacity. Sherlock has been introduced to being hurt and to loss, and while they were somewhat traumatic experiences, especially in regards to his fall, they have worked well to humanize him more than his cloistered self used to be.
POWER:
Intelligence. Scary, scary intelligence. Sherlock is a master in the art of deductive reasoning. He is able to use the smallest bits of the environment to determine the truth of events around him, usually by reconstructing the events backwards in his head, as well as using a person’s mannerisms to determine what their immediate future actions will be. His mind is always on. Always. He is a skilled chemist, and has extensive knowledge of toxicology, anatomy, biology, geology and its related forensic functions, and criminal history in all corners of the world.
Aside from his startling intellect, Sherlock, in spite of his wiry frame, has a good bit of athleticism in him as well. Lithe and agile, he can hold his own in a fight, having learned several forms of hand to hand combat. He is almost acrobatic in his movements, and it isn’t unheard of him to scale buildings or jump from roof to roof when in pursuit of a criminal.
Because of his penchant for theatrics, Sherlock makes good use of acting and disguises when he’s working. He slips in and out of roles with a seamless fluidity; able to feign tears quite convincingly one moment and be completely dry eyed the next.
Other assorted things he can do include handling guns, though not always as proficiently as possible, and speak several languages including French and German. Also he can play a mean violin, if he feels inclined to play it well.
As for actual super-powers he'll get upon being imported, though it will take him some time to discover and control it, Sherlock will gain the ability to phase through solid objects. When it’s dark enough, this doubles as the ability to become a shadow restricted to walls and floors until he returns to his normal form. The latter facet of the power will probably be dormant for a while, as there’s not many accidental ways to realize it. He’ll notice his phasing, however, when his feet get stuck in floors and the like.
I found it fitting for him as he has little regard for locks and what might be private to others, especially if he needs to break past privacy to collect data he needs for his work. It would also allow him to argue technicalities on whether he’s actually broken and entered places when there’s nothing he’s broken. The shadow part of the ability originates in how he is already able to blend in perfectly wherever he sees fit to, also to sneak around. It would take his metaphorical sinking into shadows to a new literal level.
[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:
I never was particularly fond of the quantum mechanics branch of the sciences, but if someone would like to explain how a man can fall asleep in London and wake up in New York without being in any sort of transport, I'd love to hear all about it.
[That's a lie, of course, but as long as he's in a foreign situation he sees no clean route out of just yet, he'll be as duplicitous as he sees fit. No one needs to know they're reading the words of a potential dead man.]
Or an even better question in the interest of Queen and Country, I suppose: Why is Big Ben visible across the Hudson River?
I also need painkillers. Strong ones. Surely this isn't too much to ask of a place apparently capable of either teleportation or interdimensional travel.
-SH
LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:
New York City. Of the limited number of places Sherlock could have regained consciousness, New York wasn't one of them; couldn't be one of them. St. Bartholomew's morgue, and the other two options for the more romantic, heaven or hell; currently New York seemed the closest to the latter. His whole body hurt, though he felt no broken bones. Using the device given to him upon his arrival, he tried to phone Mycroft. His personal number and multiple government extensions were all disconnected. Sherlock already tested himself to see if he was dreaming, maybe even hallucinating-- he wasn't.
Dried blood still streaked down his face and caked to his hair and clothes as he made his way down to street level. If anyone planned on trying to talk to him, his battered appearance made them think twice. A few tried to direct him to a hospital, but Sherlock only brushed them off and quickly made his way to the apartments listed in his imPort pamphlet. There would be time to explore once his head stopped throbbing almost as hard as his heartbeat.
Was this some sort of endorphin induced afterlife that would peter out at any second? He may have ruled out hallucinations, but Sherlock can't be sure if he survived his fall. Even more frustrating, he now can't be sure that John and the others survived because of it. His last memories before awakening in the tower were filled with images of Jim Moriarty, brains noticeably splattered on the rooftop, and of John Watson, heart invisibly shattering on the pavement.
Sherlock laid back on the cot in his room, dangling the dog tag he'd received above his head. He'd seen them before, shoved into the flesh of the mouths of dead men. This one plainly stated his status as "hero." Laughable, at best. Sherlock clenched the tag into his fist, running his thumb along the letters on the other side deigning a new code name: THE CONSULTANT.
FINAL NOTES:
Since Sherlock will be arriving after just having jumped off a building, at least as far as I can possibly know, he will be covered in blood and a generally alarming sight. Since I don't know how Sherlock survived the fall, if he even was really the body that did fall, etc., he won't be in a terrible physical state beyond the blood when he arrives, just incredibly sore and horrible looking.
