First Impressions
Physical Appearance
Sherlock doesn't quite look like a healthy 21 to 23-year-old with his pale complexion. He has short, styled black hair. His grey eyes are either extremely focused or seeing something that is not there. (If his eyes go eerily pale, beware of the madness.) Sherlock is vain. He likes to be clean and neat, but in times of distress, he may grow stubble. He may get a redness around the eyes as well. He dresses fashionably, sometimes a bit eccentrically (like wearing mostly black on a Mediterranean island with one sleeve rolled up or wearing a deerstalker in the city). He can also don very impressive disguises with clothing, make up, and wigs.
His tall and thin frame still allows him to chase down criminals and discombobulate them... with help from the environment or a well timed gunshot. He's no martial artist, but he caries himself with confidence. He gestures a lot with his hands, which have yet to be marked with more serious scars and burns as he wears gloves a lot. When thinking, his hand often goes to his chin or lips, and his other hand cradles his elbow. Sherlock fidgets with his hands when nervous or emotional. When deeply lost in thought, he may sit or lay oddly. Other times, he'll snap his fingers as he moves around and thinks.
Speech
Voice sample from the beginning of Chapter One (Alex Jordan VA)Sherlock speaks formally and often with confidence and arrogance. He asks rhetorical questions and loves to explain his reasoning as if he must prove himself and his deductions. He talks to himself at times, whether there is an audience present or not. He's no stranger to theatrics as he was, in his youth, a theater kid. He knows multiple languages and can speak with an accent to suit a disguise. That said, he can trail off or stutter when emotional. His words come out faster as well. The crafted image he portrays breaks.
Mental
Sherlock is highly intelligent and has been since a child when he would read from an encyclopedia over fictional stories. That said, he does know Hamlet and even performed as the title character. He has a great interest in practical sciences and places great value on reason and deduction. When confronted with a challenge, he will strive to understand it. However, when it involves emotional topics and himself, he's more likely to flee than confront them honestly. He stubborn and for all his logic, he may get stuck on something that isn't there because he thinks there is a pattern when he's connecting dots with no relevance to each other. He's confident in his abilities, and that can be his downfall when he's wrong.
With a belief both in a greater good and also for individual justice, Sherlock often has to contend with what is right and just. He'll break the law if he feels it serves a better purpose. As his brother Mycroft said, the end justifies the means. He does say this with a bit of resentment, however, since there are cases where Sherlock disapproves of Mycroft's treatment of others "for the greater good." Also, he respects women. There are many cases he abandoned and pursued no further because he learned the woman perpetrator was avenging injustices done to them. He has met a number of extremely capable women who he respects. That doesn't stop him from commenting on a woman fainting instead of being awake to give an account, but he also doesn't want to deal with anyone's nonsense, regardless of gender.
He takes comfort in the tangible, what he can see and observe. Things like ghosts and fairies are child's play, a fantasy. But... there is a part of him deep down that believes there is something beyond what he can understand, and that belief
terrifies him.
Ymg' ah nafl lloigog llllw'nafh l' mgah ahf' l' ah nog.You are not smart enough to stop whoever is to come.Emotional
Sherlock doesn't control his emotions as much as he likes to project. He likes to be noticed and recognized for his accomplishments. His overconfidence protects his insecurities, of which he has many. He's prone to tears, fear, and anger far more often than someone who claims he's a purely rational being. He does not have good emotional or social knowledge when it involves himself; call it a blind spot. He can be empathetic or at the very least sympathize with another. How he goes about it may be all wrong and still self-serving, but he tries and gets marginally better with each new experience. He's also aware of his age and doesn't approve of being called boy or considered a child.
Sherlock is highly aquaphobic and will black out when submerged underwater. He can be beside water or on a boat, though he may get sea sick on the later. However, his greatest fear is losing his mind, what he considers his best asset. Sherlock hyper fixates on things, whether it be a case or a pattern. Once he starts something, he doesn't let up, even at expense to himself. Sometimes drastically at the expense to himself. It can manifest as paranoia, and he'll need an outside influence to break him from it.
Romance? Sexual orientation? Do you really think someone having this many mental crises is in any position to engage in such a thing? He is inexperienced and will blush and retreat at such a notion. (He's not fully aware he's gay though he knows women hold no attraction to him.) However, he does love. Gaining his love and trust goes a long way. He cherishes his family even if his relationships with said family is complicated. That does not excuse surprise appearances while in disguise, which it should, but Sherlock gets too caught up in the theatrics.
Jon
Jonathan (Jon) is "Sherry's" constant companion, ready to jump in for an adventure and bring Sherlock with him. He's Sherlock's best friend, partner-in-crime, brother, anima, a part of his soul. They met soon after the death of Siger Holmes, Sherlock and Mycroft's father. They have been together ever since, and he's still with Sherlock when they return to Cordona to visit Violet Holmes's grave.
He's also completely unseen and unheard to all but Sherlock. Unless someone can see inside Sherlock's mind or something brings out what's in his mind to the public, people will not see Jon. They will not hear Jon. This is because Jon is an imaginary friend, a tulpa, a part of Sherlock's persona separated from him to give a lonely, hurt child a friend and protector. "Jon is the personification of Sherlock's survival instincts, his will to live and his desire to be happy" (SHCO Artbook, p. 17).
Those who do have that remarkable ability will see a strong, casually dressed, healthy, mustache-less Watson young man. He's easy-going and full of smiles. He sees the best in the world, the magic and wonder, and wants to experience life to the fullest. He's more artistically and emotionally minded in contrast to Sherlock's science and logic mind. Matching his looks,
Jon's voice (Wil Coban VA) is casual with an accent differing from Sherlock's. (The pirate accent is a separate bit Jon likes to do.)
Spoilers
Jon guards Sherlock from his worst childhood memories involving his mother and the bullying he got from his peers. He often "recalls" memories in more positive or fanciful ways. However, he also encourages Sherlock to concentrate to remember those lost memories. Other times, he will forget horrific scenes for Sherlock, sketching out relative details and blocking the rest. Ultimately, he loves Sherlock and wants what's best for him. Even if that eventually means letting him go.
He is not present in SHTA as he was on SHCO, but Sherlock calls out to him in times of distress, even asking Jon to intervene should he start breaking. Jon may be gone, but he's not forgotten. Sherlock hallucinates his dead body (mixed a bit with Watson's) and is open to Jon's return as his mental state deteriorates.Permissions
OOC
- Backtags: Yes
- Shipping: Yes, but he's highly inexperienced and would only possibly entertain such a notion with someone he's close with
- Fourthwalling: Yes. It happens enough in his own game with all the references everywhere. Sherlock will very confused because he's younger than the standard Holmes and has yet to go on the cases he's known for. He'll wonder people are talking about Mycroft instead... and then wonder how they know of him to begin with, or he'll start noticing the patterns he's seen in his life and question everything.
- Threadhopping: Yes, but if something serious or private seems to be going on, please ask before doing so
- Content Warnings: Expand for details and spoilers
child abuse
Sherlock Holmes was physically and emotionally abused as a child by his ill and grief-stricken mother, Violet Holmes. The abuse culminated in an attempted drowning when Sherlock was 10 years old.
medical malpractice
Dr. Otto Ricther experimented on Sherlock's mother's mental health with a variety of treatments. He also commented on wanting to study Sherlock and his mental state, having noticed his high intelligence and his belief in his imaginary friend, Jon. For SHTA, everything related to the mental institution that is Edelweiss Institute and Gygax. If you can imagine it going wrong there, it likely happened.
mental health
In SHCO, Sherlock has an imaginary friend named Jon. He sees and hears Jon, interacts with him as another person. He has locked away or altered memories of his youth to protect him from the abuse he suffered. Violet Holmes lost her grip on reality after her husband's death when Sherlock was 6. She grew increasingly violent when someone tried to tell her husband was dead. These fits would come and go, being loving one moment and lashing out the next. Once more for SHTA, everything related to Edelweiss Institute and Gygax with the addition of cultist brainwashing and Cthulhu madness. Jon is no longer present, but Sherlock thinks of him and sometimes calls out to him when distressed.
IC
- Physical Contact: Yes, although Sherlock will not likely reciprocate. He has been shown to lean into other's touch or allow them to place a hand on him, so he does have some level of being touch-starved
- Fighting: Yes, though anything serious or lasting needs to be plotted out beforehand. Sherlock will respond in kind. He's a good shot and not above shooting an urn of ashes to give himself an opening to discombobulate. He has yet to learn any martial art or boxing, given how easily a thug can turn the tables on him without a distraction. Note that Sherlock is extremely aquaphobic, so anything involving submerging Sherlock into water must be plotted beforehand.
- Supernatural Abilities: Yes, though anything serious or lasting needs to be plotted out beforehand. Let me know if the power is mental/emotion because, depending on the nature of the power, we can have a lot of fun.
Opt-Out
Sherlock's backstory has
content warnings for child abuse, medical malpractice, and mental health topics. These will be warned for if/when they come up in threads. If taken from a SHCO canon point, I choose one where the true of extent of these topics remain a mystery to himself. If taken from SHTA, he will have that knowledge plus Cthulhu madness creeping in. All that said, I am happy to completely avoid even vague references to any of this content.
Oddly enough, this Sherlock does not have a drug abuse problem like many other versions. The events from
The Awakened may change that later in his life, and he smokes tobacco in the post game epilogue and in SHTA, though never shown. (Personally, I think he may never take up the seven percent solution because a certain someone tried to offer him some, and we know what Sherlock thinks of the man at the end of SHCO. I could see him avoiding that particular vice just to spite the man.)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
astudyinviolet), Shikanoin Heizou (
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
escordvi
