Cape and Cowl Application
[PLAYER INFO]
NAME: Britt
AGE: 24
JOURNAL: foxtrot_mi_ho
IM: Msn: daestwen at gmail dot com
E-MAIL: same as above
RETURNING: 1 - Mi Ho
[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Sherlock Holmes
FANDOM: The BBC series "Sherlock"
CHRONOLOGY: From the first episode, right after he meets Watson but before they go to see 221b Baker St together
CLASS: Hero, though, he would say not to make him a hero.
SUPERHERO NAME: N/A there's no way he would take one.
ALTER EGO: Or go by a false name... full time. In the books he regularly masqueraded as other people.
BACKGROUND:
BBC's Sherlock is not set in the familiar Edwardian London that we know and love from the book. Sherlock's London comes straight via 2010, the only difference between their world and ours being the absence of the Sherlock Holmes stories. (And, let's be honest, for modern day Britain with all it's Sherlock memorabilia, that is something of a difference.)
Sherlock is what he calls a 'consulting detective', and he is the only one in the world. He is certainly not a private investigator, finds completely bordem following your husband around until he falls into bed with a whore, and in fact, will absolutely not take cases that do not interest him. Murder, sure, but it better not be as boring as a simple civil dispute or a bar fight. He likes them strange, unpredictable, and unsolvable. Well, unsolvable to the police, anyway. Which is why they come to him to 'consult' on their cases. Scotland Yard brings him the ones that they just can't crack, and he opens them like a nicely fried chestnut.
He also lends his services to civilians with criminal issues. This comes up a few times in the series, mostly noticeably with Mrs Hudson who's husband sentenced to death in a Florida prison (Sherlock made very sure, on her behalf, that the sentence was doled out), and with the restaurant owner Angelo, who he freed from a Murder charge - by proving that he was somewhere else stealing cars at the time. Cases do not have to be in London, or even within England, for him to take them on (he goes to Bulgaria to see about a case in the third episode - though he turns it down, too boring). He will go anywhere in order to play the game.
His London has many of the usual Sherlock characters about it, and some new ones.
Watson is there, of course, freshly back from the modern day war in Afghanistan, and looking for a roommate. London is just too expensive on an army pension, these days, so when he runs into his old friend Mike Stamford still working at Barts Hospital, he laments his lack of roommate by saying mentioning that it must be impossible to find someone to room with him. Amused, Mike mentions that he heard someone else say exactly the same thing earlier that day... and arranges for Watson to meet Sherlock Holmes.
Their first meeting is an interesting one. Sherlock read's Watson's past almost immediately, and the first words to his soon-to-be 'colleague' are "Iraq or Afghanistan?". From the short cropped haircut, down to the cane, his working tan-line and the stiff way he holds himself, Sherlock has already jumped to the conclusion that Watson is discharged veteran with a psychosomatic limp, freshly back from military service in one of the two active military sites near the equator - thus, either Iraq or Afghanistan.
It doesn't take much for Sherlock to convince himself to give this fellow a try, and only after rattling off about a nice little place he has found and how and when he will meet Watson there to view it, does Watson finally ask for his name. Sherlock Holmes. And the address is 221b Baker St.
Just after this is where I would like to take Sherlock from - he's met Watson, he has found 221b Baker St, and their friendship will soon be off to a very intense beginning.
Detective Inspector Lestrade heads Scotland Yard, and though he loathes Sherlock sometimes (especially when Sherlock hacks all the phones at the press conference that Lestrade is working to tell all the reports how very wrong he is), he also knows exactly how useful he can be - as long as he is kept in check. It's implied in this series, however, that not only has Sherlock been a drug user (in the books he regularly did cocaine), but that Lestrade knows that, and has probably busted him once or twice. In the midway through the first episode, Lestrade uses a drug bust as a cover to search Sherlock's apartment for any evidence he might have stolen (it's not stolen if the police don't find it first, right?). An incredulous Watson defends Sherlock loudly, but Sherlock silences him with a look and then complains to Lestrade that he's clean. All he's been on lately are nicotine patches... even if he does wear three of them when the problem he's working on requires it.
Sherlock has one sibling, Mycroft Holmes, who in his words, is probably the scariest man you'll meet. His exact position in the British government is unclear, but he casually mentions working with MI6, the CIA and a number of different agencies that you don't really want going through your trash. In the first episode Mycroft sets up a clandestine meeting with Watson in order to convince him to spy on Sherlock for him, because, well, he worries about him. Constantly. When Watson tells Sherlock how his 'Arch Enemy' offered him money to spy on him, Sherlock instantly knows that he is talking about his brother and complains that Watson should have accepted the money so that they could have split it between them. (He doesn't, however, bother to tell Watson that it is his brother that they are talking about.)
Moriarty exists in this universe, though instead of cold and calculating he is more bat-shit crazy... I'm pulling Sherlock before he even has whiff of his existence, though. Hints of him are left through the first two episodes, and the third (and final) episode is orchestrated entirely by Moriarty to play with Sherlock, and ultimately ends with them meeting in person, pool-side (It also ends on a very very nasty cliffhanger, unfortunately.)
Some of the other familiar characters do not exist in the series at all - namely Irene Adler (though it's been rumoured she will appear in the second series) and Watson's wife, Mary Morstan (Watson is dating a woman named Sarah in the series).
One of the major differences between the 1895 Sherlock and the 2010 Sherlock is that the modern Sherlock is very much in touch with his time - our time. He is constantly on his cell phone (though he hates to call, he only ever texts), uses the internet at a second's notice to check facts or follow up on hunches, and as I mentioned before, enjoys trolling Lestrade's press conferences by texting every single person present how very wrong he is. He even has a website (that you can visit and everything!) at http://www.thescienceofdeduction.co.uk/ , where he allows people to drop by with cases, and anything that people send to him that he finds particularly boring he puts out on the internet for other people to solve (he probably already solved it in his sleep).
Just like in the books, he is very quick to catch up on anything that may be of use to him - information technology obviously only helping him - and very quick to discard any information that is not important (who needs to know that the earth goes around the sun or who the prime minister happens to be?).
He can often be found in the morgue testing out theories on poor unsuspecting bodies, and sometimes takes home pieces of them to continue experiments in his fridge. (A head? Eyeballs? Where else would he put them.)
PERSONALITY:
[[A note before I begin: Sherlock is many ways is identical to the Sherlock Holmes from Arthur Conan Doyle that we know and love, but he is a product of his times. So no pipe, no weird hat or long coat - he is beyond the almost-parody version of Holmes that is so often shown in tv shows these days. Instead, they use the heart of his character instead of visual tropes and ridiculous old phrases like "Elementary, my dear watson" (which he never even said in the books anyway).]]
"Don't make people into heroes, John. Heroes don't exist, and if they did, I wouldn't be one of them."
Sherlock is, in his own words, a 'high-functioning sociopath', though this is not entirely true. Hyper-intellectual, obsessive, extremely observant, and with very little empathy, he can easily come off as a cruel and cold person who only cares about the case he's working on and has no feelings for anyone. This is, of course, not true - which James Moriarty points out with some glee when Sherlock tells him that he's been reliably informed he has no heart. Sherlock does have a heart, it's just very particular and closed down very effectively. The only people that he can be proved to care about are probably John (though he is calm and collected when faced with John's death before the villain in the series, as soon as they are alone Sherlock slips into a near panic attack), and his brother, Mycroft (though he would never, ever say so, of course).
Sherlock pisses off a lot of people, mostly because people don't like it when he can tell who you slept with last night since you're now both wearing the same deodorant, and one of you is wearing a slightly rumpled set of yesterday's clothes. He has an obsession with letting people know exactly how smart he is, but doesn't care how embarrassing it is for the other party to hear it. He loves to be completely obtuse about it, especially with people who actively dislike him - which, of course, means that they dislike him even more. He loves to tease cops, especially, and even the ones who put up with him most of the time (see: Lestrade) often find him very difficult.
He doesn't care about following procedure. To him, nothing is as important as solving the case, so he breaks police procedure left and right, and if they want him to solve it successfully, eventually they will have to let him have his way.
Sherlock gets bored. Exceedingly bored. So bored that it will drive him to shooting holes in his living room wall, screeching on his violin, and more than likely, slipping back into his drug dependency if it gets too bad. He has to have something to exercise his brain, and if he doesn't he becomes exceptionally moody, which is why he will turn to extremes. Without John, it is even worse, as he is likely to forget to eat without someone there to remind him.
This should go without saying, but Sherlock Holmes is incredibly smart. Not only is he incredibly observant (which will only be helped by his Porter-given power), but he is able to forge connections between incidents and evidence extremely quickly, and uses even the smallest bits of evidence to combine together to make a effective whole. He picks up new things with an incredible deftness, though he easily discards any 'useless' information that might clog up his delicately balance mind.
He never theorizes before he has evidence. As he puts it, if you have a theory before evidence, you will only use the evidence to fit the theory, instead of a theory to fit the evidence.
Sherlock has a desperate need to be the cleverest person that he or anyone knows and will go to great lengths to prove it - including putting himself in jeopardy. So, he is especially easy to troll by intelligent bad guys, as he will almost always rise to the bait. (He and Riddler should have a fantastic time). He is a bit vain about it, though, which is why he does not mind at all when Watson sometimes exclaims 'fantastic' after Sherlock says something particularly clever.
POWER:
1. 'Perfect Memory' : Like an extended version of photographic memory, Sherlock can recall every unimaginable detail from an event in his memory - however, only if that memory directly relates to the case that he's currently working on. This means he can remember the exact shade of mud that was on the edge of a person's shoe, that long silvery strand of hair that was clinging to that man's lapel, exactly how many inches of mud the rain from last week had left, and exactly which direction you looked in when you lied to him - at least, as long as that memory is important to his current case. Otherwise his memory is just like normal (though, he's still very observant even in the worst of times.)
2. open
3. open
[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST (FIRST PERSON) SAMPLE:
text
Fascinating.
I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective. I do not expect you to be able to understand what I do, but understand this: I solve problems, and I solve them very well.
Therefore, to most of you, I will say this. If you are in need of assistance, and your problem is interesting, please contact me.
Out of courtesy, I will ask here to be put in touch with the Chief of Police, the head of the City Morgue, as well as the man you refer to as the Batman.
I understand that there may be some hesitancy with regards to my occupation in this place, but I have extensive skills that can be put to use immediately and efficiently.
To those with substantial and concrete information about the Porter - please contact me immediately.
LOGS POST (THIRD PERSON) SAMPLE:
Sherlock spent all night wandering around the city. He had not slept since he was ported in, his mind racing with possibilities. Half of his (admitably incredible amount of) attention was focused on memorizing his surroundings, the other half digging through the fascinating device that was given to him by the Porter.
Though he certainly did not appreciate being basically kidnapped and dragged to - a different dimension? another world? - the City, he was immediately caught up in all the wonderful possibility of the place. Just a couple hours of digging through the network had already turned up reports of multiple murders with bizarre circumstances. He almost felt giddy over the prospect. He hadn't had a good serial killer in years.
He spent a long time reading before he made his tentative first post. Though he would never admit it to himself, there was a hesitancy in him when it came to approaching this place. So many 'imports' calling themselves 'detectives'... and some of them no more than children! He wondered if they even knew what deduction was, let alone if they were effective. He was more than used to completely ineffectual police officers mucking up his cases, but the idea of having... super-powered teenagers doing so was as incredibly frustrating as it was fascinating. The mere fact that there were any super-powered beings (let alone so many) was filling his mind with an explosion of possibilities.
The world's greatest puzzle was held within this place.
And Sherlock would be damned if he let anyone else but him solve it.
FINAL NOTES ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER:
Will definitely need a permissions post to see just how much he can dig into about people. Especially since given his hacking in the series, he will probably be able to figure out rather quickly how to do some mild hacking on the network. I was thinking about giving him a mild technopath ability, but if I do that, it will be if I port him out/port back in.
NAME: Britt
AGE: 24
JOURNAL: foxtrot_mi_ho
IM: Msn: daestwen at gmail dot com
E-MAIL: same as above
RETURNING: 1 - Mi Ho
[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Sherlock Holmes
FANDOM: The BBC series "Sherlock"
CHRONOLOGY: From the first episode, right after he meets Watson but before they go to see 221b Baker St together
CLASS: Hero, though, he would say not to make him a hero.
SUPERHERO NAME: N/A there's no way he would take one.
ALTER EGO: Or go by a false name... full time. In the books he regularly masqueraded as other people.
BACKGROUND:
BBC's Sherlock is not set in the familiar Edwardian London that we know and love from the book. Sherlock's London comes straight via 2010, the only difference between their world and ours being the absence of the Sherlock Holmes stories. (And, let's be honest, for modern day Britain with all it's Sherlock memorabilia, that is something of a difference.)
Sherlock is what he calls a 'consulting detective', and he is the only one in the world. He is certainly not a private investigator, finds completely bordem following your husband around until he falls into bed with a whore, and in fact, will absolutely not take cases that do not interest him. Murder, sure, but it better not be as boring as a simple civil dispute or a bar fight. He likes them strange, unpredictable, and unsolvable. Well, unsolvable to the police, anyway. Which is why they come to him to 'consult' on their cases. Scotland Yard brings him the ones that they just can't crack, and he opens them like a nicely fried chestnut.
He also lends his services to civilians with criminal issues. This comes up a few times in the series, mostly noticeably with Mrs Hudson who's husband sentenced to death in a Florida prison (Sherlock made very sure, on her behalf, that the sentence was doled out), and with the restaurant owner Angelo, who he freed from a Murder charge - by proving that he was somewhere else stealing cars at the time. Cases do not have to be in London, or even within England, for him to take them on (he goes to Bulgaria to see about a case in the third episode - though he turns it down, too boring). He will go anywhere in order to play the game.
His London has many of the usual Sherlock characters about it, and some new ones.
Watson is there, of course, freshly back from the modern day war in Afghanistan, and looking for a roommate. London is just too expensive on an army pension, these days, so when he runs into his old friend Mike Stamford still working at Barts Hospital, he laments his lack of roommate by saying mentioning that it must be impossible to find someone to room with him. Amused, Mike mentions that he heard someone else say exactly the same thing earlier that day... and arranges for Watson to meet Sherlock Holmes.
Their first meeting is an interesting one. Sherlock read's Watson's past almost immediately, and the first words to his soon-to-be 'colleague' are "Iraq or Afghanistan?". From the short cropped haircut, down to the cane, his working tan-line and the stiff way he holds himself, Sherlock has already jumped to the conclusion that Watson is discharged veteran with a psychosomatic limp, freshly back from military service in one of the two active military sites near the equator - thus, either Iraq or Afghanistan.
It doesn't take much for Sherlock to convince himself to give this fellow a try, and only after rattling off about a nice little place he has found and how and when he will meet Watson there to view it, does Watson finally ask for his name. Sherlock Holmes. And the address is 221b Baker St.
Just after this is where I would like to take Sherlock from - he's met Watson, he has found 221b Baker St, and their friendship will soon be off to a very intense beginning.
Detective Inspector Lestrade heads Scotland Yard, and though he loathes Sherlock sometimes (especially when Sherlock hacks all the phones at the press conference that Lestrade is working to tell all the reports how very wrong he is), he also knows exactly how useful he can be - as long as he is kept in check. It's implied in this series, however, that not only has Sherlock been a drug user (in the books he regularly did cocaine), but that Lestrade knows that, and has probably busted him once or twice. In the midway through the first episode, Lestrade uses a drug bust as a cover to search Sherlock's apartment for any evidence he might have stolen (it's not stolen if the police don't find it first, right?). An incredulous Watson defends Sherlock loudly, but Sherlock silences him with a look and then complains to Lestrade that he's clean. All he's been on lately are nicotine patches... even if he does wear three of them when the problem he's working on requires it.
Sherlock has one sibling, Mycroft Holmes, who in his words, is probably the scariest man you'll meet. His exact position in the British government is unclear, but he casually mentions working with MI6, the CIA and a number of different agencies that you don't really want going through your trash. In the first episode Mycroft sets up a clandestine meeting with Watson in order to convince him to spy on Sherlock for him, because, well, he worries about him. Constantly. When Watson tells Sherlock how his 'Arch Enemy' offered him money to spy on him, Sherlock instantly knows that he is talking about his brother and complains that Watson should have accepted the money so that they could have split it between them. (He doesn't, however, bother to tell Watson that it is his brother that they are talking about.)
Moriarty exists in this universe, though instead of cold and calculating he is more bat-shit crazy... I'm pulling Sherlock before he even has whiff of his existence, though. Hints of him are left through the first two episodes, and the third (and final) episode is orchestrated entirely by Moriarty to play with Sherlock, and ultimately ends with them meeting in person, pool-side (It also ends on a very very nasty cliffhanger, unfortunately.)
Some of the other familiar characters do not exist in the series at all - namely Irene Adler (though it's been rumoured she will appear in the second series) and Watson's wife, Mary Morstan (Watson is dating a woman named Sarah in the series).
One of the major differences between the 1895 Sherlock and the 2010 Sherlock is that the modern Sherlock is very much in touch with his time - our time. He is constantly on his cell phone (though he hates to call, he only ever texts), uses the internet at a second's notice to check facts or follow up on hunches, and as I mentioned before, enjoys trolling Lestrade's press conferences by texting every single person present how very wrong he is. He even has a website (that you can visit and everything!) at http://www.thescienceofdeduction.co.uk/ , where he allows people to drop by with cases, and anything that people send to him that he finds particularly boring he puts out on the internet for other people to solve (he probably already solved it in his sleep).
Just like in the books, he is very quick to catch up on anything that may be of use to him - information technology obviously only helping him - and very quick to discard any information that is not important (who needs to know that the earth goes around the sun or who the prime minister happens to be?).
He can often be found in the morgue testing out theories on poor unsuspecting bodies, and sometimes takes home pieces of them to continue experiments in his fridge. (A head? Eyeballs? Where else would he put them.)
PERSONALITY:
[[A note before I begin: Sherlock is many ways is identical to the Sherlock Holmes from Arthur Conan Doyle that we know and love, but he is a product of his times. So no pipe, no weird hat or long coat - he is beyond the almost-parody version of Holmes that is so often shown in tv shows these days. Instead, they use the heart of his character instead of visual tropes and ridiculous old phrases like "Elementary, my dear watson" (which he never even said in the books anyway).]]
"Don't make people into heroes, John. Heroes don't exist, and if they did, I wouldn't be one of them."
Sherlock is, in his own words, a 'high-functioning sociopath', though this is not entirely true. Hyper-intellectual, obsessive, extremely observant, and with very little empathy, he can easily come off as a cruel and cold person who only cares about the case he's working on and has no feelings for anyone. This is, of course, not true - which James Moriarty points out with some glee when Sherlock tells him that he's been reliably informed he has no heart. Sherlock does have a heart, it's just very particular and closed down very effectively. The only people that he can be proved to care about are probably John (though he is calm and collected when faced with John's death before the villain in the series, as soon as they are alone Sherlock slips into a near panic attack), and his brother, Mycroft (though he would never, ever say so, of course).
Sherlock pisses off a lot of people, mostly because people don't like it when he can tell who you slept with last night since you're now both wearing the same deodorant, and one of you is wearing a slightly rumpled set of yesterday's clothes. He has an obsession with letting people know exactly how smart he is, but doesn't care how embarrassing it is for the other party to hear it. He loves to be completely obtuse about it, especially with people who actively dislike him - which, of course, means that they dislike him even more. He loves to tease cops, especially, and even the ones who put up with him most of the time (see: Lestrade) often find him very difficult.
He doesn't care about following procedure. To him, nothing is as important as solving the case, so he breaks police procedure left and right, and if they want him to solve it successfully, eventually they will have to let him have his way.
Sherlock gets bored. Exceedingly bored. So bored that it will drive him to shooting holes in his living room wall, screeching on his violin, and more than likely, slipping back into his drug dependency if it gets too bad. He has to have something to exercise his brain, and if he doesn't he becomes exceptionally moody, which is why he will turn to extremes. Without John, it is even worse, as he is likely to forget to eat without someone there to remind him.
This should go without saying, but Sherlock Holmes is incredibly smart. Not only is he incredibly observant (which will only be helped by his Porter-given power), but he is able to forge connections between incidents and evidence extremely quickly, and uses even the smallest bits of evidence to combine together to make a effective whole. He picks up new things with an incredible deftness, though he easily discards any 'useless' information that might clog up his delicately balance mind.
He never theorizes before he has evidence. As he puts it, if you have a theory before evidence, you will only use the evidence to fit the theory, instead of a theory to fit the evidence.
Sherlock has a desperate need to be the cleverest person that he or anyone knows and will go to great lengths to prove it - including putting himself in jeopardy. So, he is especially easy to troll by intelligent bad guys, as he will almost always rise to the bait. (He and Riddler should have a fantastic time). He is a bit vain about it, though, which is why he does not mind at all when Watson sometimes exclaims 'fantastic' after Sherlock says something particularly clever.
POWER:
1. 'Perfect Memory' : Like an extended version of photographic memory, Sherlock can recall every unimaginable detail from an event in his memory - however, only if that memory directly relates to the case that he's currently working on. This means he can remember the exact shade of mud that was on the edge of a person's shoe, that long silvery strand of hair that was clinging to that man's lapel, exactly how many inches of mud the rain from last week had left, and exactly which direction you looked in when you lied to him - at least, as long as that memory is important to his current case. Otherwise his memory is just like normal (though, he's still very observant even in the worst of times.)
2. open
3. open
[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST (FIRST PERSON) SAMPLE:
text
Fascinating.
I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective. I do not expect you to be able to understand what I do, but understand this: I solve problems, and I solve them very well.
Therefore, to most of you, I will say this. If you are in need of assistance, and your problem is interesting, please contact me.
Out of courtesy, I will ask here to be put in touch with the Chief of Police, the head of the City Morgue, as well as the man you refer to as the Batman.
I understand that there may be some hesitancy with regards to my occupation in this place, but I have extensive skills that can be put to use immediately and efficiently.
To those with substantial and concrete information about the Porter - please contact me immediately.
LOGS POST (THIRD PERSON) SAMPLE:
Sherlock spent all night wandering around the city. He had not slept since he was ported in, his mind racing with possibilities. Half of his (admitably incredible amount of) attention was focused on memorizing his surroundings, the other half digging through the fascinating device that was given to him by the Porter.
Though he certainly did not appreciate being basically kidnapped and dragged to - a different dimension? another world? - the City, he was immediately caught up in all the wonderful possibility of the place. Just a couple hours of digging through the network had already turned up reports of multiple murders with bizarre circumstances. He almost felt giddy over the prospect. He hadn't had a good serial killer in years.
He spent a long time reading before he made his tentative first post. Though he would never admit it to himself, there was a hesitancy in him when it came to approaching this place. So many 'imports' calling themselves 'detectives'... and some of them no more than children! He wondered if they even knew what deduction was, let alone if they were effective. He was more than used to completely ineffectual police officers mucking up his cases, but the idea of having... super-powered teenagers doing so was as incredibly frustrating as it was fascinating. The mere fact that there were any super-powered beings (let alone so many) was filling his mind with an explosion of possibilities.
The world's greatest puzzle was held within this place.
And Sherlock would be damned if he let anyone else but him solve it.
FINAL NOTES ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER:
Will definitely need a permissions post to see just how much he can dig into about people. Especially since given his hacking in the series, he will probably be able to figure out rather quickly how to do some mild hacking on the network. I was thinking about giving him a mild technopath ability, but if I do that, it will be if I port him out/port back in.