The Box Application

[consulting_freak]

Player Information
Player name: Heather
Contact: TsunaCasserole
Are you over 18: Yes
Characters in The Box Already: N/A

Character Information
Character Name: Sherlock Holmes
Canon: Sherlock (BBC)
Canon Point: S2E3: The Reichenbach Fall - Specifically right before he hits the pavement :D
Is your character Dead, Undead or Alive: Alive
History: Bakerstreet Wiki link
Personality:
Sherlock is a legitimate genius, a self-proclaimed sociopath, a recovering drug addict, and at times a moody child in a 31-year-old man's body. Throughout the series, we see him go from a cold, aloof man who cares little about the consequences of his actions to someone who's willing to sacrifice his life and everything important to him in order to save the single handful of people he cares about.

Sherlock sees the world in a way that most people don't, because he observes the little things that are easily overlooked. For example, he would be able to look at a surgeon's hands and judge the person's profession by the unique callous marks associated with holding a scalpel or he'd look at the crumbs left on the creases of a person's shirt to deduce they'd eaten a bagel for breakfast.

He has an incredible memory that he organizes through a system commonly referred to as the Method of Loci. In Sherlock's case, he refers to this as his 'Mind Palace.' It's a three-dimensional arrangement where he can store memories in an organized way associated with physical locations. Because he uses this method and thinks of memories like possessions or furniture, he attributes physical space to them; thus, he deletes anything he doesn't feel is necessary for his work. In the third episode, 'The Great Game,' Sherlock reads John Watson's blog where the doctor has made public the fact that Sherlock is incredibly intelligent but remains 'spectacularly ignorant about some things' - one of which includes the well-known fact that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Another thing Sherlock has little patience or care for remembering is politics. When John asks about it, Sherlock likens his mind to a computer hard drive with limited space, once again giving physical properties to his memories in a way that a normal person can understand.

Sherlock is proud of his work and his intellectual superiority. He is not at all modest about being more clever than anyone he's around and he often enjoys showing off, though most people don't take kindly to being on the receiving end of Sherlock's deductions. The first time Sherlock explains his methods to John, he gives a very fast and very blunt assessment on several private aspects of John's life. These include his military career, psychological troubles, and rocky relationship with his alcoholic sibling. When he's finished, Sherlock fully expects John to tell him off and he's genuinely surprised that John finds his skills not only tolerable, but also impressive. In fact, Sherlock expresses that people tend to tell him to 'piss off' after an episode like that. This fact is further proved by the interaction between him and Sebastian Wilkes (an acquaintance from university). Wilkes admits to John that Sherlock had a 'trick' he used to do where he would be able to tell someone's life story just by looking at them, and he went on to say everyone hated Sherlock for it. The camera pans in close to Sherlock's face at Wilkes's words to show the detective looking sobered by the confirmation that he had been disliked.

Sherlock is an addict at heart. Whether it's nicotine, something '7% stronger' (an allusion to Sherlock's cocaine and morphine habits in the Arthur Conan Doyle stories), or a good case, Sherlock seeks more from life. He hates monotony, routine, and down time so much that between cases, he often exhibits occasionally violent outbursts of boredom. At one point, Sherlock is bored enough to vandalize his rental apartment by spray painting a yellow happy face directly onto the wall and shooting it with John's military-issued pistol. Later, when he's once again suffering from boredom, he demands that John give him a pack of cigarettes despite having quit smoking for the second time in the series. He even threatens to use the 'something 7% stronger' during that interaction until a client successfully distracts Sherlock with a promising case.

In the first episode, Sherlock claimed to be a "high-functioning sociopath" in retaliation to being called a psychopath. This is a self-diagnosis that is evidently inaccurate. First of all, a sociopath, by definition, does everything in their power to hide their disorder by faking emotional responses through a set of memorized rules and patterns, yet Sherlock announces the disorder openly. The next contradiction to his self-diagnosis happens in 'The Great Game' where Sherlock expresses his displeasure to Moriarty for the innocent lives lost in his little game. He also willingly offers up top-secret military files in order to save John's life. Later, we see him mourning the 'death' of Irene Adler so much that he composes an elegy in her memory and refuses to speak or eat much until he hears of her survival. In 'The Hounds of Baskerville,' Sherlock has a full emotional breakdown after seeing the impossible 'gigantic hound' on the moor. He explains to John that he's experiencing fear and doubt. He expresses extreme distaste for the feelings and emotions in general by calling them 'the grease on the lens' and 'the fly in the ointment.' He also admits at this point that he's 'always been able to keep [himself] distant. Divorce [himself] from feelings.' This proves that he suppresses emotions - either because he's been hurt before or because he finds them distracting - instead of not feeling at all. The most profound proof that his self-diagnosis is inaccurate comes from 'The Reichenbach Fall' when he chooses to give up his integrity and work in order to save John, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade from certain death by a sniper's bullet.

Sherlock doesn't feel confined by the same social conventions that govern the 'normal people." He tends to see nothing wrong with being blunt and even his attempts at being 'kind' go poorly. One example of his unsuccessful efforts of kindness comes when Sherlock tells Molly that her brand new boyfriend is gay. What he intends to do with this information is save Molly from pain and heartbreak later on, but what actually happens is that he hurts her sooner. He often overlooks other people's feelings, most likely because he has an almost childish way of not understanding them. Because of this, he doesn't see why people would be angry by a few body parts in the fridge, an explosive experiment in the kitchen, or violin playing at 3'o'clock in the morning when he needs to organize his thoughts.

Sherlock makes it very clear that he detests using evidence and bending it toward a biased conclusion, but he has at least two canon accounts of doing just that. First, in 'A Scandal in Belgravia,' Sherlock deduces (quite cruelly) that Molly Hooper is going to see a lover later that night evidenced by the carefully wrapped gift that has paper mirroring the shade of her red lipstick. She tells him that the gift is actually for him which surprises him. In the next episode, Sherlock comes to the incorrect conclusion that he and Henry were drugged and that's why they saw the gigantic hound. He attributes this to the sugar in Henry's house, using the logic that he and John had consumed all of the same foods and drinks since arriving save for the fact that John does not take sugar in his coffee.

Sherlock can be incredibly childish at times. On one occasion, he is invited by government officials to meet with a very important client's representative at Buckingham Palace. Because he'd been dressed in only a bed sheet when the officials came to the door and the fact that said officials tried to order him to put on clothes, he refuses and insists on going to the palace in just his sheet. Eventually, it takes Mycroft stepping on the sheet to convince him to put on proper clothes. His childishness isn't limited to directly defying authority, either. In the same set of scenes, John makes the off-hand comment that he's tempted to steal an ashtray. In an effort to joke around and please John, Sherlock does just that and surprises his friend in the cab trip home by giving him the ashtray he'd wanted.

Money seems to be of little value to Sherlock. Either because he has more than enough to take care of himself financially or because he simply feels more interested in other things, he never appears to worry about paying bills or over-indulging in expensive cab fares and take away dinners, even when John expresses concern about his (John's) unemployment. In fact, Sherlock is so unconcerned with money that he does all of his work for Scotland Yard for free. At one point, in 'The Blind Banker,' Sherlock gets a client request to help Sebastian Wilkes out with a case at his bank. Sherlock is in the process of emailing his declination when John interrupts him. In the same scene, John starts to ask Sherlock if he can borrow some money for bills. Sherlock then suddenly decides to take the case with the bank. When offered financial compensation, Sherlock tells Wilkes that he needs no incentive, then leaves the room quickly because he knows John will take the payment (5,000 pounds up front and five-figures when the case is solved) for him. This way, Sherlock could give John the money without the awkwardness surrounding a loan.

Relationships:
John Watson
John is Sherlock's first friend. Up until the doctor became part of Sherlock's life, he had no one to rely on for learning the rules of social situations. John teaches Sherlock to value human life and to become more human himself. Until John, all of Sherlock's social interactions had gone from a range between neutrality and hostility. After John's initial ecstatic fascination with Sherlock's skills, the detective realizes he likes positive feedback and tries more to receive it.

Mrs. Hudson
Mrs. Hudson is a maternal figure for Sherlock. She gives him (at a discount price) a place to live and frequently comes up to check on him. She's not his housekeeper, though. She's something more. A caregiver that Sherlock feels incredibly protective over, so much that he physically assaults and throws out the upstairs window a man who holds her hostage. After the fact, Sherlock trusts in her abilities to cope with the trauma so much that John is flabbergasted by his presumed lack of caring.

Mycroft Holmes
Sherlock has an unstable relationship with his older brother, Mycroft. Though Mycroft expresses on many occasions that he cares deeply for Sherlock's safety, Sherlock holds a deep-rooted distaste for the older Holmes. The most likely reason behind the resentment is his open distaste toward authority figures. In 'A Scandal in Belgravia,' Mycroft makes the comment that he will be 'mother,' and Sherlock retorts with 'And there is the whole childhood in a nutshell.' His rebellion against Mycroft goes deep enough that he doesn't approach his brother for help when having the British government's resources would have possibly been able to save him from his ultimate decision to fake his own suicide.

Scotland Yard
Out of all the detectives at Scotland Yard, Sherlock only seems to have patience and maybe a sliver of respect for Detective Inspector Lestrade. At the beginning of the series, Sherlock views Lestrade as a means to get into crime scenes. He never bothers to learn Lestrade's first name despite knowing him for five years. At some point, their working relationship strengthens enough for Sherlock to consider Lestrade as one of the three most important people in his life.

Sherlock gets along less well with the other detectives; specifically Sergeant Sally Donovan and the forensic scientist, Anderson. When we first meet Donovan in the series, she's already using acerbic language and openly calling Sherlock 'freak' to his face. He retaliates in the only way he knows how, by using his deductive skills in the way he already realizes offends people. Later, when Anderson confronts him - also rudely - Sherlock points out that Anderson is cheating on his wife with Sally. On two separate occasions, several unnamed officers who personally want to make Sherlock's life harder volunteer to go to Baker Street to do just that.

Molly Hooper
Molly is a forensic pathologist that Sherlock often visits when he needs to examine a body or use a fully equipped laboratory. He's very aware that she's got a crush on him and he uses it to his advantage by openly flirting with her when she's not initially keen on letting him get his way. Sherlock has a habit of unintentionally hurting Molly's feelings by saying things too bluntly or implying things about her personal life that she's not completely aware of. Her reactions to his accidental cruelty confuse him (like when he'd informed her of her boyfriend being gay) or make him feel genuinely guilty (like when he deduces her present at the Christmas party).

Irene Adler
Irene manages to captivate Sherlock's attention right from the start and it's not because she chooses to be completely nude the moment they first meet or because she seems to be physically interested in him. It's because she's clever. She's able to deduce him in a way no one outside his family has been able to do. In her words: 'I think you're damaged, delusional, and believe in a higher power. In this case, it's yourself.' Her choice in costume and make up also leave him stumped and unable to gather any meaningful pieces of data from her, which naturally makes him feel uncomfortable and begrudgingly impressed.

James Moriarty
Jim is the main antagonist throughout the first 2 series of Sherlock. He's a remarkably evil man and a mirror to Sherlock in many ways. He's clever, outcast, independent, and doesn't play by anyone else's rules. Even his occupation as consulting criminal mirrors Sherlock's status as consulting detective. Sherlock respects Jim's intelligence and willingness to not only orchestrate fantastically elaborate cases, but also his ability to fully submerge himself in the roles he's playing in his games. Jim has a way of pushing Sherlock into dramatic actions by finding the right pressure points and pushing against them. In Sherlock's case, finding the people he doesn't realize he cares about in danger helps him become more human in the process.

Abilities/Strengths and Weaknesses: He's human, so he has a normal human's physical strength. He has a resistance to certain drugs, especially anything with a similar biochemical cascade as morphine (opiates), cocaine, and nicotine due to being a former-addict. He's also good at working with little to no food/sleep for longer than normal time spans. (To keep things realistic - 36 hours for food, 48 hours for sleep.) He binges on both food and sleep shortly after cases.

Samples
Network/Action Spam Sample:
Canon-verse John and Sherlock where John gets a bit injured.
Prose Log Sample:
The cold rain bit at his face and hands, but Sherlock was more focused on the blurred figure down on the sidewalk. "Leave a note, when?" John's voice came through the ear piece of his iPhone. Even through the electronic haze, he could hear the confusion and hesitant fear in his friend's voice. Or, maybe it was his own confusion and hesitant fear. He had never truly been good at reading these kinds of things.

"Goodbye, John," Sherlock said back into the phone, not leaving a moment for discussion or more attempted persuasion to get him to walk back into the building where he'd be 'safe.' He pulled the phone away from his ear, vaguely hearing John's last plea before he ended the call. It's time, I've already given the signal and they're waiting for me, he told himself, swallowing hard and steeling himself for the inevitable. He threw his phone down to the rooftop to protect it. This last phone call would be recorded on it and he was certain someone as sentimental as John would find that important somehow.

He knew for sure that he would survive the fall. Statistically speaking, with all of his calculated wind resistance and Judo-trained body control, he'd have less than a 5% chance of death and a 24.53% chance of breaking a bone. Still, this moment would be the end of his life's work, his career, and his only friendship.

He spread his arms out from his body, a position that would increase his surface area and allow his Belstaff to catch more upward draft. With that, he breathed outward and stepped from the ledge. On his way down, he kicked his legs like he was running down the side of the wall. It was to orient himself in a way that his lower body would land on the pavement first, keeping his head and spine safe and protected from injury.

The sidewalk grew closer and closer. But what was that noise? It was a long, screeching sound. A bird? Some other kind of animal?

He groaned, rolling tighter into a ball on his side. He reached around blindly for the pillow left unused somewhere above his head. He placed it directly against his ear and squeezed his eyes shut. "Early Thursday morning. Must be 3 AM," he realised when the last of his recurring dream faded away and the here and now took over. He sat groggily and looked around his room in the kind of daze waking suddenly from a REM cycle after being underslept always gave him. Once he spotted his pilfered mobile phone, he reached for it and checked the time. "For God sakes, it's been less than two minutes since it's started?"

He grew increasingly discontent as the sound continued to pierce through the atmosphere. "John!" he called toward the room next door. "That's three Thursdays in a row, are you ready to admit there's a pattern yet?"