Application for sirenspull
Small note: The application was originally hosted on my other Jim journal- thatswhatppl_do. After switching journals, I have transferred it here.
Player Information
Name: Rae / Raelet
Age: 19
AIM SN: available upon request
email: available upon request
Have you played in an LJ based game before? Yes
Currently Played Characters: Nope
Conditional: Activity Check Link: N/A
Character Information
General
Canon Source: Sherlock, the BBC series
Canon Format: TV miniseries
Character's Name: James "Jim" Moriarty
Character's Age: Unspecified in canon, though he's played by a thirty-four year old actor- and since they're referenced to be around the same age, it matches well with the Sherlock's (caveatwalls) age of early to mid thirties.
What form will your character's NV take? A mobile smartphone.
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities:
In canon, Moriarty has no superhuman abilities, but his intellect is said to rival Sherlock Holmes' own. He's able to plan, deduce, and out-think his way to victory- though in the context of the miniseries and what we've been shown so far, the planning aspect seems to be the most important to him. Jim's career relies on his ability to size people up and know exactly how to get to them, and more importantly, how to use them to accomplish his goals.
He's also quite the master of manipulation. Jim is capable of wearing a personality like a cloak, even going so far as to create multifaceted deceptions: thorough enough to fool Sherlock Holmes himself into believing that he's somebody he's not, consistent enough to hold down a job and get a girlfriend, and emotionally seperated enough so that leaving the lie he lives is as simple as taking off a mask and tossing it aside.
Though he's not shown much during the miniseries, it is probably safe to equate Jim at least a little to his novel counterpart, Professor Moriarty. In the stories, Moriarty is also a master mathmatician. He published a book on the subject- Dynamics of an Asteroid-, which Holmes himself highly praised. He is also known for his mastery of science and knowledge of practically limitless information in the scientific community, as well as his aim with his air rifle.
Conditional: If your character has no superhuman canon abilities, what dormant ability will you give them?
Vocal hypnosis. I thought this would be fitting, due to several points in canon where he uses his voice as a method to incite emotions into other people.
In the third episode, one of his victims attempted describing him to Sherlock- she whispered "his voice... is so soft." before Moriarty had her killed for revealing information. At the end of the episode, when he finally met Sherlock in person, his voice was everywhere, ranging from loud to quiet, high pitched to a low whisper, mocking and deadly serious- in essence, shifting all over the place in quite a remarkable fashion. He's also been noted to consciously change his Irish accent in order to seem less suspicious, demonstrating mastery over his enunciation and syllable usage.
What will this mean in terms of his actual power? Since I obviously don't want him godmoding everywhere, his hypnotic voice is going to have limits. First, and most obvious, he has to be speaking, and he has to be heard. If he's gagged, choked, or otherwise vocally impaired it won't work- likewise if the victim is wearing earplugs, deaf, or doesn't understand the language he's using. Secondly, he can't just give someone a command and have them follow it- like 'real' hypnosis, he has to lead into it, spend at least a minute or two speaking to the person before they're ready to be given a task. The longer he speaks, the more power his voice would have over someone. And thirdly, it isn't quite like mind control- more like a heavy, heavy suggestion (think of the Imperius curse in the Harry Potter series- the victim is capable of throwing it off, but it takes tremendous willpower). Finally, it can only be focused on one person at a time, as each speech has to be specialized for them (as his control over his powers grow, this may change, but I don't intend on that happening for a long time). Due to this, he can't simply make a voice post over the NV and hypnotize EVERYONE EVER. However, if he were in a private conversation with someone over the NV, it would be possible- just much more difficult, and again, not plausible until his control gets stronger.
How it would work: he would start using his power and the victim would hear his voice. They would slowly go into a daze where time seems to pass more slowly, his syllables drawn out, their focus slanted to his voice- a sensation that's almost comparable to being drugged. After the daze gets deep enough (or before, if he's pressed for time), they'll be given a command and feel inexplicably bound to carry it through. The simpler the command, the more the compulsion (for example: 'pat your head and rub your belly' would be utterly simple, versus 'go kill your best friend'.) Then, the world would slowly right itself. The victim would feel ridiculously compelled to do whatever was told to them, and hopefully, they would do it. While carrying out the task- after the daze wore off- they would be functioning as themselves, IC and unaware of why they were doing the task, simply that they needed to carry it out.
As a secondary technique, Jim could also potentially use his voice to his advantage by inhibiting other people's belief in themselves- in essence, telling them that they're slower than him, not as strong as him, weaker than him- and having him or her believe him and then subconsciously inhibit themselves as a result. However, this ability would lay dormant for quite some time, and I can't see him being able to access it any time in the near future- and even when he does access it, it wouldn't be as simple for him to use as it would be just telling someone to do something. Commanding is one thing, altering one's perception of onesself is another entirely- it would take far more effort and concentration, but it could be possible.
Jim would be able to use this to his advantage in a multitude of scenarios: interrogation, making people do his dirty work, framing others for his misdeeds. It would be very useful to him in both escaping suspicion as well as causing mayhem in the first place.
Weapons: UNBELIEVABLE SEXINESS.
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History:
Although he wasn't physically present in the first two episodes of Sherlock, Jim influenced both of them- in essence, he is the sole reason for the entire conflict within the series- the benefactor of the serial killer, the paperwork forger of the criminal immigrants, not to mention all of the strife he causes in the third episode alone.
The first installment, A Study In Pink, sends Sherlock Holmes and John Watson off to find a serial killer who 'hides in plain sight', as the victims all seemed to have been coerced into committing suicide and poisoning themselves. The killer is none other than a lowly cab driver, set to die at any moment from a blood clot in his brain and concerned about how his children would fare in the world after his death. As the episode reaches its climax, Sherlock manages to coerce the cabbie into telling him that Moriarty was giving him money for every person he killed- money that would go to his children when he finally died. Sherlock finally hears Moriarty's name and the game is on.
The second episode featured a troupe of Chinese circus performers who were all secretly members of an illicit underground society which stole cultural artifacts and sold them on the black market. After one of their most precious pieces goes missing, Moriarty funds them and helps them get into London so that they can personally retrieve it. Though Moriarty plays a small role in this one (for the most part, the episode is about Sherlock and John tracking down the performers and eventually finding the lost artifact), in the end, he orders a hit on the leader and only survivor of the gang, which is carried out after she becomes a liability.
The third episode is the main focus of Jim's presence in the series- in this episode, he both directly and indirectly interacts with Sherlock, and is the driving force behind all of the cases Sherlock must investigate. The episode is set up into five mini plots, each one organized by Jim and presented to Sherlock as a puzzle to solve. Jim stays in touch with Sherlock through a victim on the phone, strapped to a bomb- a new victim for each puzzle, and a new time limit in which to solve the puzzle, before the bomb detonates.
The first puzzle is the only key we get into Jim's past- Sherlock is presented with a pair of old shoes and a 12 hour time limit. As he works on analyzing the shoes- looking into chemical compounds, trying to figure out the owner- he is greeted Molly (the unfortunate girl with a crush on Sherlock) and her new boyfriend, the closeted gay Jim from IT. Molly is obviously trying to make the detective jealous, to which Sherlock simply glances toward Jim and rationalizes that he's gay (the fact that Jim slipped him his phone number is the most defining point to that particular deduction). The pair take their leave and Sherlock continues analyzing the shoes.
He finds the bacteria responsible for causing botulism in the shoes and recalls the first case he'd ever been interested in as a child- a young boy having a seizure in the pool and drowning. It was assumed that he'd just had some kind of fit in the water, since the botulinum toxin is practically untraceable, especially back then. Only his shoes were missing, a point which Sherlock attempted to point out and was ignored for his efforts. These were, of course, the shoes.
After Sherlock figures it out, he's called by his next victim who tells him- "I never liked him." The conversation basically insinuates that the victim was a bully who had made fun of Jim once too often, and so Jim introduced the botulinum in his skin cream, which ultimately killed him. Sherlock is then presented with a second case- and after that, a third, which is noteworthy in that Sherlock succeeded in solving the puzzle, but the victim began giving away information about Moriarty (commenting on his voice), and Jim detonated the bomb strapped to her, effectively murdering twelve people in the explosion. The fourth is much like the others, except for the fact that there is no contact with the hostage until the very end- and that said hostage is a small child.
In the fifth and final 'puzzle', John Watson is kidnapped by Jim and used as his fifth victim- meeting Sherlock face to face at the abandoned pool where the first boy died. Upon seeing John there, Sherlock is stunned, before Moriarty finally makes his first entrance... an entrance which, in fact, is revealed to be his second, as he shows himself to be none other than the cheery Jim from IT that Molly had been dating. He engages in witty banter for a few minutes, in which his eccentric personality really makes one wonder how insane he really is, before warning Sherlock to stay away from him and his organization and taking his leave. Sherlock and John share a moment of respite, and then, Jim comes back, deciding ultimately that he was going to kill them after all.
The series ends with Sherlock aiming his gun at the bomb, intending to destroy all three of them.
(Jim's on-screen time in canon is only about ten minutes in full, and all ten of them are on youtube! Here is the introduction of 'Jim from IT', and here is his final confrontation with Sherlock and John.)
Point in Canon: The confrontation with Sherlock and John at the pool, after he leaves the scene, but before he comes back.
Character Personality:
In the first episode, Sherlock Holmes snaps at the presumption that he is a psychopath. He then proceeds to correct the offending party with the fact that he is a 'high functioning sociopath', when in actuality, Jim fits the title better than Sherlock himself. Whereas Sherlock's budding companionship with Watson contrasts behaviors known to fall under the Antisocial Personality Disorder, Jim has no such ties. He is brutal, apathetic, and remorseless- unable to muster anything that could come close to empathy.
But you wouldn't be able to tell it by talking to him. Jim is very charismatic when he wants to be, and is extremely capable of manipulating people to get what he wants from them. He's able to blend in seamlessly, to a point where he even fooled Sherlock Holmes himself in the third episode-pretending to be a closeted gay 'Jim from IT', who dated a girl who knew Sherlock. When meeting Holmes, Sherlock immediately deduced that he was gay, but utterly disregarded him otherwise- even when Jim was less than two feet away from him, even when Jim slipped him his phone number. Which alone proves how meticulous he can be when he decides to put up a front- in playing gay for Sherlock, Jim not only chose the right style of dress, but also concealed minuscule things that would give him away- using slight amounts of makeup, facial creams, and even disguising his Irish accent for a less conspicuous English one.
However, the thing that sets Jim apart from your run-of-the-mill mass murdering psychopath is his sheer brilliance. Jim is smart, extremely so, and it shows in the way he conducts his business. In his early teens, he had already committed and gotten away with his first murder- and as time went on and he grew more powerful, Jim stepped away from committing murders and other crimes and began orchestrating them, becoming, in essence, the mastermind behind a great number of unsolved crimes. As Sherlock is the world's only consulting detective, Jim is the world's only consulting criminal- and while Sherlock can solve some of his crimes- finding the murderer, finding the motive, the only thing that eludes his grasp is Moriarty himself, until the two decide to meet face to face.
Being a consulting criminal isn't exactly your run of the mill job- Jim works, in essence, as an underhanded 'fixer'. People can arrange anything from murders to frauds to immigrations to extortion through him, and he fixes all of their little problems for them. It isn't clear just how many people go to him and have their problems 'fixed' or just how good he is at fixing things, as he mentions that the six or so that Sherlock catches throughout the series were intentionally sacrificed so that the two of them could play their game of cat and mouse.
Why does he do it? The reason hasn't been supplied in canon, but I think it's fair to say that, like Sherlock, Jim's intellect is isolating. They would both be utterly miserable in a conventional job, but out there in the world of crime and retribution there is actually a challenge once in awhile. Sherlock is presented with an untraceable serial killer, Jim is asked to fix a complicated problem- and it makes them think, stimulates their intellect and gives them a challenge they can look forward to.
Which brings us to another major motivation for Jim Moriarty: boredom. When Sherlock is questioned as to why the serial bomber (Moriarty) sets up puzzles for him to solve and then cuts his ties loose when Sherlock does solve them, the detective simply replies- "I can't be the only one who gets bored." Like Sherlock, Moriarty loathes boredom. He hates it. But unlike Sherlock, Moriarty doesn't have to wait for a crime to happen- he makes them happen. When Jim gets bored, he can proceed to... do whatever the hell he wants. In the confines of the series, this means the 'game' he plays with Sherlock. If he'd wanted to simply warn Sherlock away, or to simply kill him, it would be easy enough for someone like him- one sacrificed sniper on the roof opposite 221B Baker Street and they'd both be done for. Instead, he strings Sherlock along on this game of sorts because it's amusing to him to watch the detective dance around trying to solve his crimes.
Moriarty is one who goes far, pushes the limits, takes risks that are sometimes questionable- was it really necessary? After all, he didn't have to risk meeting Sherlock as his campy 'Jim from IT' and risk being identified- what's more, he didn't have to go meet up with Sherlock in the pool scene. It would have been far simpler to just send in a stand-in and have them give the warning, make the transaction, and either leave or kill Sherlock. By going himself, he was not only outed as Moriarty, but he risked his life at the end of Sherlock's gun, trusting in his sniper's threats on John to keep the detective from shooting him. So why'd he do that? Seems kind of risky, especially given the fact that he's dealing with Sherlock Holmes.
The answer is rather simple: he's confident. Completely, utterly confident in himself- so much that he doesn't even flinch when Sherlock pulls the gun on him, doesn't wince when he trains the weapon on the bomb in front of both of them. He trusts himself to know Sherlock, is utterly sure in the fact that he knows the other detective so well that he won't be in danger. It's a confidence that is eclipsed by narcissism- so convincingly, that when he comments on how changeability is his 'only' flaw, it's difficult to tell if he's joking or not. Jim likes himself, trusts his own judgments enough to risk his life for them.
This narcissism is, unsurprisingly, contrasted with his apathy toward the rest of the world. Jim doesn't care about people- in fact, it's unclear if he even regards them as people. The very language he uses when talking about others as if they are merely things that he can play with and take apart at will ("I stopped him. I can stop John Watson too. Stop his heart.", "This one is a bit defective. She's blind.", etc.). Jim's 'game' with Sherlock leads to him taking a young man, an old woman, and even a child hostage, strapping bombs to them and forcing them to talk to Sherlock for him- one deviation from what he wants to tell them, one mistake from Sherlock, and the bombs would detonate. In one of the cases, he did detonate the elderly woman (killing eleven other people in the explosion), simply for giving a little information about his voice. It's obvious just from these few snippets that Jim has utterly no regard for human life- they just don't register to him.
Contrary to Jim having the gall to meet Sherlock face to face, it's stated several times that Moriarty is the kind of person who keeps to the shadows: he rules things from behind closed doors, garbled audio feeds, texts to his henchmen- he always keeps a barrier between himself and the action. He states himself that he doesn't like getting his hands dirty, and Sherlock mentions that he prefers to be out of the line of sight. Although he's confident enough to creep out from his hiding places, he only does so if he's particularly engaged in his victim- otherwise, he keeps secret, orders his men to do things and communicates through other people- usually then, in a detached way, such as typing out text for them to read out to whoever he's talking to..
Now, given what I've written so far, Jim seems to be the broody, intellectual sort of villain who puts on different disguises and masterminds everything with an intimidating smile and dark laughter. Ironically enough, that's rather far from the actual truth. Yes, he's apathetic, narcissistic, brilliant, and rather duplicitous- but he does it with a plethora of dramatic gestures, over-exaggerated expressions, and playful banter. Even when meeting Sherlock as himself, Jim hasn't quite seemed to drop the 'gay' act. He openly flirts with him, calls him pet names, and acts in a way that makes it difficult to believe that he is actually the man that Sherlock had been chasing this whole time.
Due to his- oddly campy nature, it's hard to tell where the front stops and the real Moriarty begins. Even in the final scene, Jim is over-the-top, prone to making comical statements, silly faces, and changing the pitch of his voice from low to high to normal again, seemingly for his own amusement, as it has little effect on Sherlock while he's speaking to him. It's hard to tell when he is being serious, and when he's just being melodramatic for the hell of it- I personally think it's some strange mixture of the two. I don't think his odd behavior is actually do to him being 'crazy' though- it's simply a rouse, a distraction, and one that, surprisingly enough, slips from time to time.
Beneath the confusing exterior, Jim is quite- well, sinister. It only slips once or twice during the finale, but when his outer projection does crack, the inner workings of his personality are actually a little frightening. When he loudly proclaims- "That's what people do!" in response to Sherlock's accusation that he's causing people to die, he practically screams the last word in rage that's just barely managed to slip out, before he slides back into the playful persona again. While his voice is light, it's also important to look at his expression- in several occasions in the last scenes of The Great Game, Jim's tone is lighthearted, but his expression slips into a serious, even angry look before shifting back to match his voice. Like Sherlock, Jim initially appears very detached, separated from the people around him, but at his heart, he's an extremely intense person, and it slips out from him more often than it does from Sherlock. He comes across as being barely controlled, the cheery exterior plainly cracked to reveal the angry and intense person inside.
Character Plans:
Jim is obviously going to cause mayhem, as much and as often as he possibly can. Ultimately, his goal will be, not to destroy or even defeat Sherlock, but to curb his own boredom. Be that by committing interesting crimes to continue his game of cat-and-mouse with the detective or simply by finding a really good chess partner, the excitement of a new city isn't going to last very long- and once he's processed that, he'll need plenty of distractions to keep him from agonizing away in boredom.
Initially, I'm planning on introducing Moriarty's campy 'Jim from IT' persona to scout out the relative population and get a grasp for the people residing in the city. I'm intending to play him very much in duality- the manipulative, charming Jim from IT to the general public, and the consulting criminal Moriarty to the people he takes interest and exception to. Like the episodes suggest, his consulting criminal persona will operate largely behind jumbled feeds of text, and will have human interaction with the other characters quite rarely.
Appearance/PB: Here!
Writing Samples
First Person Sample
note: Since Jim has, in essence two (or more) different personas that he likes to appear as, I've written two first person samples. The first is likely to be fairly close to his first post in sirenspull- the second probably won't be posted anytime soon, but it gives a better grasp of his 'true' personality.
[Video]
[The feed clicks on to reveal a relatively handsome man somewhere in his early thirties, facing the device like he's already figured out how to use it. He smiles nervously toward the camera, his eyes flicking about the surroundings with unease. The man is obviously new, confused as to his location, and probably a little frightened by what had happened- though it's clear that he's trying to put his best foot forward by starting with a smile.]
Erm- hi.
[A faint little wave.]
I'm... I'm not quite sure where I am. If anyone could help me, I'd appreciate it. A lot. Thanks.
[He reaches to turn off the feed, before thinking better of it, swallowing hard and continuing.]
...if anyone's seen my girlfriend, I'd like to know. She's about this tall- [indicating with his hand next to his head] -with long brown hair. Cute as a button. Let me know? Thanks.
[He honestly looks like the last person who would worry about a girlfriend. Not that he looks in any way sinister, but everything about him, from his speech to his dress, to his tinted eyebrows screams the fact that he'd prefer the company of another gender. But- Jim offers out another wry smile anyway, and he reaches again, pausing just before hitting the button.]
Oh. And- my name's Jim. Good to meet you all.
[The feed goes black.]
[Video]
[There's always something wonderful about baiting people, isn't there? Something that made you feel powerful. Something that made you feel like all was right in the world.
Or maybe it was just him.]
Come out, come out, wherever you are, Sherlock...
[His voice was soft, lilting in his natural Irish accent. Jim was currently romping through the streets, smirking as he crept by the random passers-by, watching each of them with a focus that seemed unusually intense for such a catty demeanor. To anyone else, he probably seemed... well, like he was very off-kilter, but Sherlock would know if he saw. That Jim was looking, really seeing all of these people, all of the scraps of information- she was married, her husband was having an affair that she only recently found out about, the other woman's son was a hopeless waste, she had recently gotten a haircut and was sad that nobody had noticed it yet- everything, every single scrap of information.
But, that wasn't really the point.]
Sheeeerlock-
[Focusing now back on the NV, smirking that dangerous little smirk of his.]
Now really, what's a man got to do to get a date around here? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were ignoring me. [The smile disappears, and his face goes deadpan, along with his flirtatious tone.] And I'd hate to be ignored, Sherlock. I'd just loathe it. It might just... make me- snap.
[He grins again, with a suggestive wink.]
-if you know what I mean.
[With that, he turns off the feed.]
Third Person Sample
The apartments he'd been supplied with were drab- no idea of fashion, interior design- by all accounts, several experts on feng shui would probably have fainted clean away at the very arrangement of such a place.
Jim merely wrinkled his nose. It was what he had to work with, it would have to do.
He wasted no time in shedding his suit jacket and throwing it over the nearby chair. The tie (costing more than some poor bloke was paid in a month) was cast aside as well, carelessly forgotten about in the heat of the moment, his mind already helplessly working to try and get acclimated to the idea of being here. It was a sudden move, a shift that still left him nauseous, but he did his best to swallow the bile in his throat, ignoring his body's urges to sit until the dizziness passed... no, there was work to do. Possibly the most important work there was: gathering information. It was boring, unseemly, and he hated doing this part himself, but the moment he realized that there would be no hired help here for him was the moment he decided to roll up his sleeves and dive in.
It meant that he'd have to use his face- that seemed to be what a majority of the others over the network were doing to gain allies. If he simply communicated through text throughout his entire stay, they'd never trust him. He needed connections- connections that he couldn't simply make through familial influence and reputation. He had neither of those here. It was time for footwork.
The setback didn't seem to rattle him as much as it should. Being the head of a criminal empire one moment and losing it all the next would be a devastating blow to anyone. Moriarty didn't give the shock and anger time to set in (there was nobody here to indulge his temper tantrums, and if he started throwing things, then there was no endless supply of money to replace them)- he simply went to work.
He unbuttoned the first two buttons of his collar, undid the buttons on his wrist cuffs and rolled his sleeves up. Grudgingly, he undid his belt as well, untucking his collared shirt and continuing the process of undoing the rest of his shirt buttons. He was wearing an undershirt underneath the suit, a decision he was thankful for- it meant he had something. Not that he was going to be running around in a wife beater, but the unbuttoned shirt looked far more casual than it would if it were done upright.
Jim was well aware that he wouldn't be fooling anyone with a degree in fashion- if they knew anything about brand names of men's suits, they would recognize the Westwood immediately. The question would arise as to how a lowly IT boy would have some trifle so expensive. He would make up a lie. I was going to an office party, got it at a tux rental shop- Something like that would be suitable.
Ruffling his hair so that it looked unkempt, Jim underwent a transformation. The icy look in his eyes utterly disappeared, replaced with warmth, the sardonic smirk at the corner of his lips replaced with a nervous smile. His posture dipped slightly, he uttered out a few syllables to make sure that he could manage the accent correctly.
And with that, he pushed the button to start the video function on his mobile phone.
Player Information
Name: Rae / Raelet
Age: 19
AIM SN: available upon request
email: available upon request
Have you played in an LJ based game before? Yes
Currently Played Characters: Nope
Conditional: Activity Check Link: N/A
Character Information
General
Canon Source: Sherlock, the BBC series
Canon Format: TV miniseries
Character's Name: James "Jim" Moriarty
Character's Age: Unspecified in canon, though he's played by a thirty-four year old actor- and since they're referenced to be around the same age, it matches well with the Sherlock's (caveatwalls) age of early to mid thirties.
What form will your character's NV take? A mobile smartphone.
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities:
In canon, Moriarty has no superhuman abilities, but his intellect is said to rival Sherlock Holmes' own. He's able to plan, deduce, and out-think his way to victory- though in the context of the miniseries and what we've been shown so far, the planning aspect seems to be the most important to him. Jim's career relies on his ability to size people up and know exactly how to get to them, and more importantly, how to use them to accomplish his goals.
He's also quite the master of manipulation. Jim is capable of wearing a personality like a cloak, even going so far as to create multifaceted deceptions: thorough enough to fool Sherlock Holmes himself into believing that he's somebody he's not, consistent enough to hold down a job and get a girlfriend, and emotionally seperated enough so that leaving the lie he lives is as simple as taking off a mask and tossing it aside.
Though he's not shown much during the miniseries, it is probably safe to equate Jim at least a little to his novel counterpart, Professor Moriarty. In the stories, Moriarty is also a master mathmatician. He published a book on the subject- Dynamics of an Asteroid-, which Holmes himself highly praised. He is also known for his mastery of science and knowledge of practically limitless information in the scientific community, as well as his aim with his air rifle.
Conditional: If your character has no superhuman canon abilities, what dormant ability will you give them?
Vocal hypnosis. I thought this would be fitting, due to several points in canon where he uses his voice as a method to incite emotions into other people.
In the third episode, one of his victims attempted describing him to Sherlock- she whispered "his voice... is so soft." before Moriarty had her killed for revealing information. At the end of the episode, when he finally met Sherlock in person, his voice was everywhere, ranging from loud to quiet, high pitched to a low whisper, mocking and deadly serious- in essence, shifting all over the place in quite a remarkable fashion. He's also been noted to consciously change his Irish accent in order to seem less suspicious, demonstrating mastery over his enunciation and syllable usage.
What will this mean in terms of his actual power? Since I obviously don't want him godmoding everywhere, his hypnotic voice is going to have limits. First, and most obvious, he has to be speaking, and he has to be heard. If he's gagged, choked, or otherwise vocally impaired it won't work- likewise if the victim is wearing earplugs, deaf, or doesn't understand the language he's using. Secondly, he can't just give someone a command and have them follow it- like 'real' hypnosis, he has to lead into it, spend at least a minute or two speaking to the person before they're ready to be given a task. The longer he speaks, the more power his voice would have over someone. And thirdly, it isn't quite like mind control- more like a heavy, heavy suggestion (think of the Imperius curse in the Harry Potter series- the victim is capable of throwing it off, but it takes tremendous willpower). Finally, it can only be focused on one person at a time, as each speech has to be specialized for them (as his control over his powers grow, this may change, but I don't intend on that happening for a long time). Due to this, he can't simply make a voice post over the NV and hypnotize EVERYONE EVER. However, if he were in a private conversation with someone over the NV, it would be possible- just much more difficult, and again, not plausible until his control gets stronger.
How it would work: he would start using his power and the victim would hear his voice. They would slowly go into a daze where time seems to pass more slowly, his syllables drawn out, their focus slanted to his voice- a sensation that's almost comparable to being drugged. After the daze gets deep enough (or before, if he's pressed for time), they'll be given a command and feel inexplicably bound to carry it through. The simpler the command, the more the compulsion (for example: 'pat your head and rub your belly' would be utterly simple, versus 'go kill your best friend'.) Then, the world would slowly right itself. The victim would feel ridiculously compelled to do whatever was told to them, and hopefully, they would do it. While carrying out the task- after the daze wore off- they would be functioning as themselves, IC and unaware of why they were doing the task, simply that they needed to carry it out.
As a secondary technique, Jim could also potentially use his voice to his advantage by inhibiting other people's belief in themselves- in essence, telling them that they're slower than him, not as strong as him, weaker than him- and having him or her believe him and then subconsciously inhibit themselves as a result. However, this ability would lay dormant for quite some time, and I can't see him being able to access it any time in the near future- and even when he does access it, it wouldn't be as simple for him to use as it would be just telling someone to do something. Commanding is one thing, altering one's perception of onesself is another entirely- it would take far more effort and concentration, but it could be possible.
Jim would be able to use this to his advantage in a multitude of scenarios: interrogation, making people do his dirty work, framing others for his misdeeds. It would be very useful to him in both escaping suspicion as well as causing mayhem in the first place.
Weapons: UNBELIEVABLE SEXINESS.
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History:
Although he wasn't physically present in the first two episodes of Sherlock, Jim influenced both of them- in essence, he is the sole reason for the entire conflict within the series- the benefactor of the serial killer, the paperwork forger of the criminal immigrants, not to mention all of the strife he causes in the third episode alone.
The first installment, A Study In Pink, sends Sherlock Holmes and John Watson off to find a serial killer who 'hides in plain sight', as the victims all seemed to have been coerced into committing suicide and poisoning themselves. The killer is none other than a lowly cab driver, set to die at any moment from a blood clot in his brain and concerned about how his children would fare in the world after his death. As the episode reaches its climax, Sherlock manages to coerce the cabbie into telling him that Moriarty was giving him money for every person he killed- money that would go to his children when he finally died. Sherlock finally hears Moriarty's name and the game is on.
The second episode featured a troupe of Chinese circus performers who were all secretly members of an illicit underground society which stole cultural artifacts and sold them on the black market. After one of their most precious pieces goes missing, Moriarty funds them and helps them get into London so that they can personally retrieve it. Though Moriarty plays a small role in this one (for the most part, the episode is about Sherlock and John tracking down the performers and eventually finding the lost artifact), in the end, he orders a hit on the leader and only survivor of the gang, which is carried out after she becomes a liability.
The third episode is the main focus of Jim's presence in the series- in this episode, he both directly and indirectly interacts with Sherlock, and is the driving force behind all of the cases Sherlock must investigate. The episode is set up into five mini plots, each one organized by Jim and presented to Sherlock as a puzzle to solve. Jim stays in touch with Sherlock through a victim on the phone, strapped to a bomb- a new victim for each puzzle, and a new time limit in which to solve the puzzle, before the bomb detonates.
The first puzzle is the only key we get into Jim's past- Sherlock is presented with a pair of old shoes and a 12 hour time limit. As he works on analyzing the shoes- looking into chemical compounds, trying to figure out the owner- he is greeted Molly (the unfortunate girl with a crush on Sherlock) and her new boyfriend, the closeted gay Jim from IT. Molly is obviously trying to make the detective jealous, to which Sherlock simply glances toward Jim and rationalizes that he's gay (the fact that Jim slipped him his phone number is the most defining point to that particular deduction). The pair take their leave and Sherlock continues analyzing the shoes.
He finds the bacteria responsible for causing botulism in the shoes and recalls the first case he'd ever been interested in as a child- a young boy having a seizure in the pool and drowning. It was assumed that he'd just had some kind of fit in the water, since the botulinum toxin is practically untraceable, especially back then. Only his shoes were missing, a point which Sherlock attempted to point out and was ignored for his efforts. These were, of course, the shoes.
After Sherlock figures it out, he's called by his next victim who tells him- "I never liked him." The conversation basically insinuates that the victim was a bully who had made fun of Jim once too often, and so Jim introduced the botulinum in his skin cream, which ultimately killed him. Sherlock is then presented with a second case- and after that, a third, which is noteworthy in that Sherlock succeeded in solving the puzzle, but the victim began giving away information about Moriarty (commenting on his voice), and Jim detonated the bomb strapped to her, effectively murdering twelve people in the explosion. The fourth is much like the others, except for the fact that there is no contact with the hostage until the very end- and that said hostage is a small child.
In the fifth and final 'puzzle', John Watson is kidnapped by Jim and used as his fifth victim- meeting Sherlock face to face at the abandoned pool where the first boy died. Upon seeing John there, Sherlock is stunned, before Moriarty finally makes his first entrance... an entrance which, in fact, is revealed to be his second, as he shows himself to be none other than the cheery Jim from IT that Molly had been dating. He engages in witty banter for a few minutes, in which his eccentric personality really makes one wonder how insane he really is, before warning Sherlock to stay away from him and his organization and taking his leave. Sherlock and John share a moment of respite, and then, Jim comes back, deciding ultimately that he was going to kill them after all.
The series ends with Sherlock aiming his gun at the bomb, intending to destroy all three of them.
(Jim's on-screen time in canon is only about ten minutes in full, and all ten of them are on youtube! Here is the introduction of 'Jim from IT', and here is his final confrontation with Sherlock and John.)
Point in Canon: The confrontation with Sherlock and John at the pool, after he leaves the scene, but before he comes back.
Character Personality:
In the first episode, Sherlock Holmes snaps at the presumption that he is a psychopath. He then proceeds to correct the offending party with the fact that he is a 'high functioning sociopath', when in actuality, Jim fits the title better than Sherlock himself. Whereas Sherlock's budding companionship with Watson contrasts behaviors known to fall under the Antisocial Personality Disorder, Jim has no such ties. He is brutal, apathetic, and remorseless- unable to muster anything that could come close to empathy.
But you wouldn't be able to tell it by talking to him. Jim is very charismatic when he wants to be, and is extremely capable of manipulating people to get what he wants from them. He's able to blend in seamlessly, to a point where he even fooled Sherlock Holmes himself in the third episode-pretending to be a closeted gay 'Jim from IT', who dated a girl who knew Sherlock. When meeting Holmes, Sherlock immediately deduced that he was gay, but utterly disregarded him otherwise- even when Jim was less than two feet away from him, even when Jim slipped him his phone number. Which alone proves how meticulous he can be when he decides to put up a front- in playing gay for Sherlock, Jim not only chose the right style of dress, but also concealed minuscule things that would give him away- using slight amounts of makeup, facial creams, and even disguising his Irish accent for a less conspicuous English one.
However, the thing that sets Jim apart from your run-of-the-mill mass murdering psychopath is his sheer brilliance. Jim is smart, extremely so, and it shows in the way he conducts his business. In his early teens, he had already committed and gotten away with his first murder- and as time went on and he grew more powerful, Jim stepped away from committing murders and other crimes and began orchestrating them, becoming, in essence, the mastermind behind a great number of unsolved crimes. As Sherlock is the world's only consulting detective, Jim is the world's only consulting criminal- and while Sherlock can solve some of his crimes- finding the murderer, finding the motive, the only thing that eludes his grasp is Moriarty himself, until the two decide to meet face to face.
Being a consulting criminal isn't exactly your run of the mill job- Jim works, in essence, as an underhanded 'fixer'. People can arrange anything from murders to frauds to immigrations to extortion through him, and he fixes all of their little problems for them. It isn't clear just how many people go to him and have their problems 'fixed' or just how good he is at fixing things, as he mentions that the six or so that Sherlock catches throughout the series were intentionally sacrificed so that the two of them could play their game of cat and mouse.
Why does he do it? The reason hasn't been supplied in canon, but I think it's fair to say that, like Sherlock, Jim's intellect is isolating. They would both be utterly miserable in a conventional job, but out there in the world of crime and retribution there is actually a challenge once in awhile. Sherlock is presented with an untraceable serial killer, Jim is asked to fix a complicated problem- and it makes them think, stimulates their intellect and gives them a challenge they can look forward to.
Which brings us to another major motivation for Jim Moriarty: boredom. When Sherlock is questioned as to why the serial bomber (Moriarty) sets up puzzles for him to solve and then cuts his ties loose when Sherlock does solve them, the detective simply replies- "I can't be the only one who gets bored." Like Sherlock, Moriarty loathes boredom. He hates it. But unlike Sherlock, Moriarty doesn't have to wait for a crime to happen- he makes them happen. When Jim gets bored, he can proceed to... do whatever the hell he wants. In the confines of the series, this means the 'game' he plays with Sherlock. If he'd wanted to simply warn Sherlock away, or to simply kill him, it would be easy enough for someone like him- one sacrificed sniper on the roof opposite 221B Baker Street and they'd both be done for. Instead, he strings Sherlock along on this game of sorts because it's amusing to him to watch the detective dance around trying to solve his crimes.
Moriarty is one who goes far, pushes the limits, takes risks that are sometimes questionable- was it really necessary? After all, he didn't have to risk meeting Sherlock as his campy 'Jim from IT' and risk being identified- what's more, he didn't have to go meet up with Sherlock in the pool scene. It would have been far simpler to just send in a stand-in and have them give the warning, make the transaction, and either leave or kill Sherlock. By going himself, he was not only outed as Moriarty, but he risked his life at the end of Sherlock's gun, trusting in his sniper's threats on John to keep the detective from shooting him. So why'd he do that? Seems kind of risky, especially given the fact that he's dealing with Sherlock Holmes.
The answer is rather simple: he's confident. Completely, utterly confident in himself- so much that he doesn't even flinch when Sherlock pulls the gun on him, doesn't wince when he trains the weapon on the bomb in front of both of them. He trusts himself to know Sherlock, is utterly sure in the fact that he knows the other detective so well that he won't be in danger. It's a confidence that is eclipsed by narcissism- so convincingly, that when he comments on how changeability is his 'only' flaw, it's difficult to tell if he's joking or not. Jim likes himself, trusts his own judgments enough to risk his life for them.
This narcissism is, unsurprisingly, contrasted with his apathy toward the rest of the world. Jim doesn't care about people- in fact, it's unclear if he even regards them as people. The very language he uses when talking about others as if they are merely things that he can play with and take apart at will ("I stopped him. I can stop John Watson too. Stop his heart.", "This one is a bit defective. She's blind.", etc.). Jim's 'game' with Sherlock leads to him taking a young man, an old woman, and even a child hostage, strapping bombs to them and forcing them to talk to Sherlock for him- one deviation from what he wants to tell them, one mistake from Sherlock, and the bombs would detonate. In one of the cases, he did detonate the elderly woman (killing eleven other people in the explosion), simply for giving a little information about his voice. It's obvious just from these few snippets that Jim has utterly no regard for human life- they just don't register to him.
Contrary to Jim having the gall to meet Sherlock face to face, it's stated several times that Moriarty is the kind of person who keeps to the shadows: he rules things from behind closed doors, garbled audio feeds, texts to his henchmen- he always keeps a barrier between himself and the action. He states himself that he doesn't like getting his hands dirty, and Sherlock mentions that he prefers to be out of the line of sight. Although he's confident enough to creep out from his hiding places, he only does so if he's particularly engaged in his victim- otherwise, he keeps secret, orders his men to do things and communicates through other people- usually then, in a detached way, such as typing out text for them to read out to whoever he's talking to..
Now, given what I've written so far, Jim seems to be the broody, intellectual sort of villain who puts on different disguises and masterminds everything with an intimidating smile and dark laughter. Ironically enough, that's rather far from the actual truth. Yes, he's apathetic, narcissistic, brilliant, and rather duplicitous- but he does it with a plethora of dramatic gestures, over-exaggerated expressions, and playful banter. Even when meeting Sherlock as himself, Jim hasn't quite seemed to drop the 'gay' act. He openly flirts with him, calls him pet names, and acts in a way that makes it difficult to believe that he is actually the man that Sherlock had been chasing this whole time.
Due to his- oddly campy nature, it's hard to tell where the front stops and the real Moriarty begins. Even in the final scene, Jim is over-the-top, prone to making comical statements, silly faces, and changing the pitch of his voice from low to high to normal again, seemingly for his own amusement, as it has little effect on Sherlock while he's speaking to him. It's hard to tell when he is being serious, and when he's just being melodramatic for the hell of it- I personally think it's some strange mixture of the two. I don't think his odd behavior is actually do to him being 'crazy' though- it's simply a rouse, a distraction, and one that, surprisingly enough, slips from time to time.
Beneath the confusing exterior, Jim is quite- well, sinister. It only slips once or twice during the finale, but when his outer projection does crack, the inner workings of his personality are actually a little frightening. When he loudly proclaims- "That's what people do!" in response to Sherlock's accusation that he's causing people to die, he practically screams the last word in rage that's just barely managed to slip out, before he slides back into the playful persona again. While his voice is light, it's also important to look at his expression- in several occasions in the last scenes of The Great Game, Jim's tone is lighthearted, but his expression slips into a serious, even angry look before shifting back to match his voice. Like Sherlock, Jim initially appears very detached, separated from the people around him, but at his heart, he's an extremely intense person, and it slips out from him more often than it does from Sherlock. He comes across as being barely controlled, the cheery exterior plainly cracked to reveal the angry and intense person inside.
Character Plans:
Jim is obviously going to cause mayhem, as much and as often as he possibly can. Ultimately, his goal will be, not to destroy or even defeat Sherlock, but to curb his own boredom. Be that by committing interesting crimes to continue his game of cat-and-mouse with the detective or simply by finding a really good chess partner, the excitement of a new city isn't going to last very long- and once he's processed that, he'll need plenty of distractions to keep him from agonizing away in boredom.
Initially, I'm planning on introducing Moriarty's campy 'Jim from IT' persona to scout out the relative population and get a grasp for the people residing in the city. I'm intending to play him very much in duality- the manipulative, charming Jim from IT to the general public, and the consulting criminal Moriarty to the people he takes interest and exception to. Like the episodes suggest, his consulting criminal persona will operate largely behind jumbled feeds of text, and will have human interaction with the other characters quite rarely.
Appearance/PB: Here!
Writing Samples
First Person Sample
note: Since Jim has, in essence two (or more) different personas that he likes to appear as, I've written two first person samples. The first is likely to be fairly close to his first post in sirenspull- the second probably won't be posted anytime soon, but it gives a better grasp of his 'true' personality.
[Video]
[The feed clicks on to reveal a relatively handsome man somewhere in his early thirties, facing the device like he's already figured out how to use it. He smiles nervously toward the camera, his eyes flicking about the surroundings with unease. The man is obviously new, confused as to his location, and probably a little frightened by what had happened- though it's clear that he's trying to put his best foot forward by starting with a smile.]
Erm- hi.
[A faint little wave.]
I'm... I'm not quite sure where I am. If anyone could help me, I'd appreciate it. A lot. Thanks.
[He reaches to turn off the feed, before thinking better of it, swallowing hard and continuing.]
...if anyone's seen my girlfriend, I'd like to know. She's about this tall- [indicating with his hand next to his head] -with long brown hair. Cute as a button. Let me know? Thanks.
[He honestly looks like the last person who would worry about a girlfriend. Not that he looks in any way sinister, but everything about him, from his speech to his dress, to his tinted eyebrows screams the fact that he'd prefer the company of another gender. But- Jim offers out another wry smile anyway, and he reaches again, pausing just before hitting the button.]
Oh. And- my name's Jim. Good to meet you all.
[The feed goes black.]
[Video]
[There's always something wonderful about baiting people, isn't there? Something that made you feel powerful. Something that made you feel like all was right in the world.
Or maybe it was just him.]
Come out, come out, wherever you are, Sherlock...
[His voice was soft, lilting in his natural Irish accent. Jim was currently romping through the streets, smirking as he crept by the random passers-by, watching each of them with a focus that seemed unusually intense for such a catty demeanor. To anyone else, he probably seemed... well, like he was very off-kilter, but Sherlock would know if he saw. That Jim was looking, really seeing all of these people, all of the scraps of information- she was married, her husband was having an affair that she only recently found out about, the other woman's son was a hopeless waste, she had recently gotten a haircut and was sad that nobody had noticed it yet- everything, every single scrap of information.
But, that wasn't really the point.]
Sheeeerlock-
[Focusing now back on the NV, smirking that dangerous little smirk of his.]
Now really, what's a man got to do to get a date around here? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were ignoring me. [The smile disappears, and his face goes deadpan, along with his flirtatious tone.] And I'd hate to be ignored, Sherlock. I'd just loathe it. It might just... make me- snap.
[He grins again, with a suggestive wink.]
-if you know what I mean.
[With that, he turns off the feed.]
Third Person Sample
The apartments he'd been supplied with were drab- no idea of fashion, interior design- by all accounts, several experts on feng shui would probably have fainted clean away at the very arrangement of such a place.
Jim merely wrinkled his nose. It was what he had to work with, it would have to do.
He wasted no time in shedding his suit jacket and throwing it over the nearby chair. The tie (costing more than some poor bloke was paid in a month) was cast aside as well, carelessly forgotten about in the heat of the moment, his mind already helplessly working to try and get acclimated to the idea of being here. It was a sudden move, a shift that still left him nauseous, but he did his best to swallow the bile in his throat, ignoring his body's urges to sit until the dizziness passed... no, there was work to do. Possibly the most important work there was: gathering information. It was boring, unseemly, and he hated doing this part himself, but the moment he realized that there would be no hired help here for him was the moment he decided to roll up his sleeves and dive in.
It meant that he'd have to use his face- that seemed to be what a majority of the others over the network were doing to gain allies. If he simply communicated through text throughout his entire stay, they'd never trust him. He needed connections- connections that he couldn't simply make through familial influence and reputation. He had neither of those here. It was time for footwork.
The setback didn't seem to rattle him as much as it should. Being the head of a criminal empire one moment and losing it all the next would be a devastating blow to anyone. Moriarty didn't give the shock and anger time to set in (there was nobody here to indulge his temper tantrums, and if he started throwing things, then there was no endless supply of money to replace them)- he simply went to work.
He unbuttoned the first two buttons of his collar, undid the buttons on his wrist cuffs and rolled his sleeves up. Grudgingly, he undid his belt as well, untucking his collared shirt and continuing the process of undoing the rest of his shirt buttons. He was wearing an undershirt underneath the suit, a decision he was thankful for- it meant he had something. Not that he was going to be running around in a wife beater, but the unbuttoned shirt looked far more casual than it would if it were done upright.
Jim was well aware that he wouldn't be fooling anyone with a degree in fashion- if they knew anything about brand names of men's suits, they would recognize the Westwood immediately. The question would arise as to how a lowly IT boy would have some trifle so expensive. He would make up a lie. I was going to an office party, got it at a tux rental shop- Something like that would be suitable.
Ruffling his hair so that it looked unkempt, Jim underwent a transformation. The icy look in his eyes utterly disappeared, replaced with warmth, the sardonic smirk at the corner of his lips replaced with a nervous smile. His posture dipped slightly, he uttered out a few syllables to make sure that he could manage the accent correctly.
And with that, he pushed the button to start the video function on his mobile phone.