Application

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PLAYER INFO

PLAYER NAME » Kristi
PLAYER JOURNAL » likeabulldozer
AGE » Definitely not younger than 18
EMAIL » rageiscute@gmail.com
INSTANT MESSAGING » rageiscute [aim]
OTHER METHOD OF CONTACT » | Plurk
HOW MANY CHARACTERS DO YOU CURRENTLY PLAY? » N/A


CHARACTER INFO

CHARACTER NAME » John Watson
FANDOM » BBC Sherlock
CANON-POINT » Post The Reichenbach Fall
HISTORY » history

PERSONALITY »

John is very much an average, 'every man' type of person. He's competent, ridiculously (usually) cool in stressful situations. This is seen throughout various points of the series but notably the first episode when he makes a fantastic shot through windows to shoot someone before Sherlock ends up dead. He's even reasonably cool when he's got a bomb vest on. This could because he's got faith in Sherlock or it could be just a reflection of how controlled he is in a dangerous situation. Speaking of danger, it intrigues him. Sherlock notes in the first episode that John's hands tremble when he's bored but in a stressful situation, he's steady. He craves and needs some danger in his life.Once a person gets used to that level of adrenaline, it's hard to go back to a nice life in a flat with a cup of tea and a good book. John's life before Sherlock was not boring and he abhors the idea of a boring life after wards. John's therapist says he's got PTSD but Mycroft Holmes counteracts that by saying he doesn't have PTSD, he just misses the war. The nightmares and the limp are symptoms of missing the war rather than PTSD. This idea is further supported by the fact that he doesn't blog until Sherlock, despite the fact that his therapist is insistent that it will help him. He doesn't have anything remarkable to say; why would he want to put sub-par, boring material out there for people to read? It's also interesting to note that once John meets Sherlock, crashes head first into his life and the danger that it involves, his limp goes away entirely and we don't hear him complain about his leg again. He even abandons the cane.

A little bit on PTSD and what it is so that it's completely understood that he does not have it despite his therapist saying he does. It's pretty clear he has some of the symptoms but much of what he does contradicts PTSD, like the risk-taking behaviors he participates in. Sherlock says to him 'I said it might be dangerous and here you are'. If John really had PTSD, he could not function in Sherlock's life. He could not have made that shot through the window under that sort of pressure. He would have buckled. He also would have never been able to deal with being in a bomb vest as calmly and coolly as he does if he had PTSD. Perhaps the most telling of signs that he does not have PTSD, his hands tremble a bit at time but under pressure they're rock steady. PTSD is a wrong diagnosis by his therapist and she makes it because it is expected that John would have PTSD.

He's loyal and faithful. To the end, he believes in Sherlock even when Sherlock himself is telling him that he's wrong. This isn't the only show of faith we see from John but it is the biggest. He's also practical. Several times in season two, rather than scold Sherlock for behaving like...Sherlock, he simply suggests that maybe he ought to take a different approach; like, maybe he should smile less when kidnapped kids are involved. At the same time, John is unafraid of conflict even when it's a fight he knows he can't win. He plunges right into arguments with Sherlock, despite knowing that intellectually he's outpaced. He's persistent but it's a subtle sort of persistence. In fact, most everything about John is subtle and quiet. John is extremely tolerant. He's not easily offended and he lets many of the things Sherlock says to him roll off his back. He seems to know how to handle people in stressful situations. This is probably due to his training as a doctor. Socially, he's reasonably comfortable but he's a disaster with women. He can't keep facts about them straight and confuses one girlfriend with former girlfriends.

John Watson is confident in himself and his abilities. He says, without arrogance, that he's a good doctor. He's empathetic, again, probably from his training as a doctor. He's deeply concerned about what people think of him and of Sherlock. This comes up several times and is a major point in the episode I'm taking him from. He has a bit of a temper. This is most noticeable when Sherlock is threatened. He once punches a police officer over Sherlock. Of course, he shows the same temper when having a fist fight with Sherlock. It seems to be something he keeps under control for the most part but it is definitely there, lingering beneath the surface. He's just as likely to lose his temper and snap at Sherlock (for instance when he thinks Mrs. Hudson is hurt and Sherlock isn't concerned) but he quickly pulls it back in.

It should be addressed that Sherlock Holmes is John's best friend. His relationship with him is a very important part of his life. Sherlock, in a sense, saved him from losing himself and brought him back from a hollow sort of, desperate man. He gave him a purpose (saving Sherlock in return) in his life and made his life important again. As someone who saved people in the military, he needed a job in his post military life in which he made a difference. Sherlock provided that for him and he is the most important part of his life. Sherlock makes the point of telling John in The Hounds of Baskerville that he only has one friend, John. It's never verbalized but John is in much the same situation. Sherlock is his only friend and such a startlingly important part of his life that John is, for the most part, okay with that. He has girlfriends and dates but we never seen them become the huge part of his life that Sherlock is. In fact, one girlfriend leaves him because she refuses to compete with Sherlock for attention from John.

ABILITIES/WEAKNESSES » John is a medical doctor so he has the expected skills that come with that. He was also a military doctor so he's got some skill with trauma situations. He's shown to be an excellent shot under pressure.

As far as weaknesses go, John is human. He's got all the average human weaknesses including, if you ask Sherlock, being stupid. In reality, he's not stupid, he's just average intelligence. Compared to Sherlock, everyone is stupid. He does miss things that average humans miss. His risk-seeking tendencies are definitely a weakness. He has absolute faith in Sherlock and that can be a weakness as well. He's not the most social of people. His only real friend is Sherlock and he's horrible with women.
DREAM POWER »

While dreaming, John has the ability to heal people.


CHARACTER SAMPLES

NETWORK SAMPLE »

Foolishly, I thought my days of being kidnapped were over. America is a bit of a surprise though.

[There's some annoyance as a nurse comes to fuss over him.]

I'm fine. I'm a doctor. I would know if I needed medical attention. I would like to speak with Mycroft Holmes. [Because naturally he believes Mycroft is behind this. It's a statistical probability that either Mycroft or Moriarty are behind this. He'd rather it be Mycroft.]


LOG SAMPLE »
“Tell me, John, how are you dealing with it?”

She doesn't have to define 'it'. They're both well aware of the topic she's speaking of. He hesitates, uncertain as to how to answer that. His nightmares are back, but they're a different sort: Sherlock's face on every corpse he comes across in a field of corpses. He dismisses the idea of telling her before it's even fully formed. She'll call it PTSD and Sherlock was right; it isn't PTSD; it's missing something, the danger, the excitement, the companionship and the feeling that he was doing something that mattered. The only thing John is capable of now is trying to remember how to breathe, how to exist, how to survive.

“I don't know. I'm—I'm fine.” That's what he's expected to say. He's learned this in a very short amount of time. Everyone wants to know how he's doing, but what they really want to know is how he's not dealing. They want to see the morbid details of how a life crumbles. “I'm—I'm staying with a friend.” Sarah has been overly accommodating and terribly kind. He knows she's walking on egg shells around him and he appreciates it but there is a part of him that wishes she wouldn't. It's maddening, everyone being so nice all the time. He wants to explode; he wants to scream; he wants Sherlock to be back acting like an annoying dick most of the time. It's an unexpected reminder that his best friend is gone.

“You haven't gone back to your flat?”

He shakes his head, unable to verbalize for a moment, overcome with emotion at the idea of stepping back into a flat where Sherlock should be. He can't stand the idea of seeing his friend's violin, his work scattered about. He can't stand the idea of silence simply because there is no one to talk to, not because Sherlock has demanded it.

“No. I-I ca--” and he stops himself. “I don't want to.” Sherlock will really be gone the moment he steps into that empty flat. There will be no chance of a miracle, no clever rebirth or coverup.

“Do you still text him?”

Oh, there are few things John regrets as much as he does confessing that he'd texted Sherlock's phone from time to time. It's one of those things that should have been just his: his and his best friends. He clears his throat and shakes his head. “There's no point.”

“Because he's dead.”

John winces like he's been physically hurt, squeezing his eyes shut and nods. “Yes. Sherlock Holmes, my best friend, is dead.”

Silently, he waits for Sherlock to emerge from the shadows, to tell him he's stupid and average and any clever, awfully clever, fool would have seen his death for what it was.

John holds his breath, counting the tick-tock of the clock. He doesn't. He never will.

His tattoo: Death before dishonour


ANYTHING ELSE? » Nope! I don't think so