Permissions (for others)

[notquiteheartless]

If you have ever read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories or novels or seen BBC's Sherlock series, you know about Sherlock's extraordinary skills of observation, induction, and deduction. In Sherlock, it takes the likes of Jim Moriarty and Irene Adler to throw him off.

So, this post is for what Sherlock can know. If you want him to know something about your character but can't think of how he could figure it out, tell me. We can work together to decide on something that would indicate it. Otherwise, consult the list below and carefully consider what sort of marks your character would have and what that would reveal, particularly in combination with each other.

A good example of what Sherlock is capable of can be found in the links below.

Things to consider: style of clothes, condition of clothes, brands of clothes, hair style, grooming products used, grooming products not used, amount of grooming products used, personal hygenie, state of fingernails, jewellery, condition of jewellery, kind of make-up, amount of make-up, posture, wallet, purse, condition of fashion and function accessories, cell phone, make of cell phone, condition of cell phone, perfume/cologne, kind of perfume/cologne, amount of perfume/cologne, tan, kind of tan, severity of tan, corrective eye lenses, habits, hobbies, health issues, profession (and the subsequent "marks" it would leave on someone).

Examples of Sherlock in action: with John Watson, examining a body

Comments

[fleurdesel]

Appearance: Petite, standing at 5'2”, slim build with lightly defined musculature in the arms and shoulders, small bust, wide hips. Her legs are well toned from years of practicing classical ballet; her hands and wrists lithe and delicate. Despite her force of will and occasionally stoic front she gives off the appearance of being fragile. Her eyes are light blue, her hair is blonde, her skin is pale.

Clothing: While at the clinic she sticks to her utilitarian and semi formal attire; button down blouses in white, off white, and shades of blue, black slacks. Fitted, tailored for her by her older sister Ameile, a designer in her home world. While jogging or working out she wears plain grey or black jersey knit yoga pants and a black or grey tank-top, with a coat as the weather wills. All her clothing is regularly laundered, in good condition, and neatly pressed.

She does live with one dog and two cats, and there may yet be hairs she did not manage to pick up with a lintroller.

Clothing of note: Her winter coat, a military cut trench, is a re-tailoring of her father's coat, also done by her older sister. The fabric is older than the new seams, worn, discreet pockets lined along the cuffs and the back of the collar that are unused. The buttons are worn but polished, the coat kept in good repair. Parallel stitches reinforce the seam on the left shoulder and an inch of the right hem; tears Adele repaired herself using a surgeon's stitch.

Accessories: She doesn't wear jewelery, but she does wear a simple leather banded watch on her left wrist. The clip for her hair is plain, and has a small segment that pulls away and hides a small, flat knife.

Shoes: Business flats with solid arch support and traction, she's on her feet most of the day and the edges of the sole are worn accordingly. There is a variation in the sole in the left heel that can be pulled away for a second small knife.

Hair: Blonde, curled, and always out of her face. She doesn't leave it loose. Adele keeps her hair pinned back in a French Roll unless she is showering or sleeping. It is kept out of her face and out of the way, though as the day goes on small wisps will come free and frame her face. She only uses water to slick it down while she clips it back, she does not use mousse, gel, or hairspray. Her shampoo is scentless, she conditions regularly with an anti-frizz formula to prevent split ends in her curls.

Hygiene: She showers regularly, using exfoliates and moisturizes to counteract the dryness caused by frequent washing up in the surgical ward. She hasn't performed many in Luceti, but the habit remains. Her nails are clipped and short, kept clean and even. Her hands are her livelihood, and she takes care of them.

Makeup: None. She takes enough care of her skin she does without, more often than not she simply does not have the time. As such when she does not sleep well, there is nothing to conceal the darkened skin under her eyes.

Posture: Adele holds herself well, upright, and moves with a grace that comes from her years training in dance. Her motions are efficient, precise, and fluid.

Personal effects: A plain leather wallet with credit cards, business cards, ID, worn stitching. A man's wallet, her father's. She keeps it in her briefcase, a brown leather attache case she carries if she is making house calls. It's handle is worn, the locks polished, and appears slightly smaller on the inside of the top lid than it does on the outside.

She doesn't carry a purse. What she needs, when she needs it, is usually in her case.

She doesn't wear perfume as she finds the practice pointless. Her skin is fair due to a great deal of time spent indoors. She doesn't require glasses or corrective lenses.

Adele is an acrophobe, and will be tense if she has to be four stories up. Anything higher is beyond her unless she is medicated. As such she keeps to the second story or below unless she absolutely must do otherwise.

Habits/hobbies: Adele pushes herself, and has recently crashed because of it. Too little sleep and too much done in a day laid her low for two days. If thinking deeply she taps her fingers on the nearest hard surface, miming chords or bits of melody from a piece of music as played on the piano. She sits with her back to a wall, is tense and flinches subtly if touched from behind or hugged when she wasn't warned of it beforehand.

Tea she takes with honey, coffee black, she gave up smoking two months ago and has a habit of having at least one drink before attempting to sleep. Predominantly bourbon or gin, neat. Wines she prefers to be fine, beer isn't something she drinks, overly complicated cocktails confuse her.

With time enough, normally, Adele practices whatever piece of music on the piano at house 44 for her performances at Cloud Nine. When she found pointe shoes in February she began practicing pointework once more, and dedicates at least two hours to it to make up for time lost. She reads often, varied medical studies, works of fiction, and sketches roughly. It is not her talent, simply something she does to keep her hands and mind busy when she cannot focus on anything else.

Health issues: Other than a few light scars: a straight one on her right bicep, a smudge of a healed burn on the inside of her left forearm. All other scars are hidden by clothing, but save the large curved one on her abdomen, they are minimal.

Profession: Adele is a trauma surgeon. Though there has not been much call for her skills as of yet in Luceti she keeps her hours at the clinics and has left herself available for anyone to contact her if they need her.

Any further details that are needed, just shoot me a PM. I think I covered the most important bits.