permissions post

[solvings]

All right, so. Sherlock is pretty famous for his deductive abilities, which basically means he can tell you a bunch of things about something at a glance. The problem is, he often tries this out on other people, as John Watson and Henry Knight, among others, can attest to. Very rarely do people manage to throw him off, though that honor can go to Jim Moriarty, who's a damn good actor, and Irene Adler, who first met him naked. But that's another story, so.

This post is, basically, so you can tl;dr on your character's habits, clothes, posture, career, scars, tics, measurements...yeah. Basically, lots of little things most people don't notice from your character. Hey, I'm not as perceptive as Sherlock, and I'm lazier. Dump anything you might think he'd notice and deduce from a few glances at your character, which is a lot, mind.

Also I think I'm done here.

Comments

[healeveryone]

Talking about character minutia? Talking about character minutia.

Rosalia does a bunch of gardening stuff for the shop so it wouldn't be uncommon to see stray soil under her nails or on her clothes or something. She...uh, wears a lot of pink and white? She likes pretty and cutesy things, and so a lot of what she wears is typical girly stuff - dresses, ribbons in the hair, etc.

Anemoi's been her first real chance to interact with people who aren't her dad in about eight years, so she basically throws herself into talking to people really enthusiastically if you want to pick up on that.

Things less likely to come up: Rosalia's surprisingly acclimated to being around medical/scientific equipment, even if she has only vague ideas of what they actually do. She's also not really fond of being around guns, and she gets nervous when she bleeds.

IF you need more, just tell me!

[xiaolindragon]

Yes, okay. I am totally going to throw Rai at Sherlock, I'm sure it would be a fantastic trainwreck.

But let's see. Rai is an ex-circus performer turned Xiaolin monk and he spends most of his time fighting off the forces of evil. So, I think the most notable thing about him would be his build (from training in both professions), the way he moves (his fighting style is a funny mix of flying trapeze and break-dancing so I imagine he moves with an odd calculative sort of grace ), and his hands (callouses!).

As far as appearance goes he dresses pretty loose and casual, nothing restrictive or would make it hard for him to move. He's also Brazilian and has a distinguished accent.

[shineslightintodarkness]

Oh fun.

Minutae for Rudy: Rudolph is a medical doctor - though the tech's roughly early 20th century at best, but he's learning at the local clinics so he'd have the scent of antiseptic, well-trimmed nails, very fine motorskills, and the few repairs in his clothes are done with a surgical precision. He's also a researcher, so there's fades on his clothes where he rests his elbows on the table, the lingering smell of old books, and numerous writing callouses. He talks far more animatedly when the topic is intellectual, scrutinizing details to an obsessive point but open to evidence for research.

He's also moves very quietly for a man of his age and size.

Less likely to be picked up is that he's a monster hunter, he subconsciously scans people who fit certain profiles for tells, his eyesight's good at night, and he has some thieving skills such as lockpicking and trap disarming.

Scrooge: A self-made man, his clothes are actually rather old, but kept in extremely good condition and extremely high quality - so it's clothes that will last. He's always meticulously presented, though his cane as hairline cracks, as if he whacked it against things quite often, and have tons of callouses on his hands.

[nomen_est_numen]

Hokeedokee.

First off, Shen is way older than he looks, though he possibly sounds more or less his real age, which is around 50. He spent a few decades studying kung-fu; while the style isn't named in his canon it's compared most closely to Cai Li Fo. This is obvious in his posture and movements which can be seen even despite the nonhuman physiology.

He spent his childhood being sickly which can most likely be spotted in the condition of the skin around his eyes and his propensity to cough on cold or smoky air and the lack of any kind of voice for shouting. He also ends up out of breath rather easily despite his combat training.

He wears either metal talons or wraps on his feet to protect the third-degree burn scars there. As a result, he's a bit footsore if he's not wearing the talons.

His facility with explosives means he constantly smells like cordite and a few other chemicals and there's probably soot in his feathers that he's never going to be able to get completely clean of.

Shen's mannerisms scream 'royal upbringing' or, at the very least, aristocracy or nobility. He's intelligent and will eventually remember just how well-educated and experienced he is, though it still shows in his speech and actions.

Also, he lives with Joachim, for whatever Holmes can figure out regarding that.

[nomen_est_numen]

Also, I'd put him as hailing from around the 5th century. He did invent gunpowder and artillery in his universe....

[trustycrowbar]

Since I plan on adding an action part...

The fact that Gordon's a scientist is trivial, even without the labcoat. At any given time there are chemical stains, laser burns, and the like on his hands, clothing and hair. This implies either an ingrained sloppiness to his methods or exuberance overreaching his sense of self-preservation, probably both. He's got a considerable knowledge base and a quick and logical mind, though he occasionally tends to let it stray from the path of logic and into the wild valleys of metaphor and humanism, making him either a theoretical physicist or a hopeless romantic.

Gordon is an American, obviously, but his skin tone and allusion of red to his hair implies primarily Scottish descent. He's very wiry despite what some fanart may suggest, and his movements and muscle tone suggest that he was once a long-distance runner, possibly collegiate*. The prescription on his glasses imply nearsightedness with slight astigmatism, and the frames are just a little too tight--purposefully so, so that they'd never fall off. He has a tendency to rake his hands through his hair when he's thinking, and it's only by virtue of the short cut that it isn't a complete mess.

He's also in his mid-to-late twenties, which is by all accounts pretty damn young for a career like his. Managing the age differential was probably a problem for him sometime in the past*; after all, the only reason a man under the age of thirty would ever grow a beard is to make themselves look older so that they'd be taken seriously by their peers.

His clothes only reinforce this; turtlenecks and button-down shirts and slacks are the costume of a professional, and his are usually wrinkled, sometimes mismatched, and never exactly pristine. His hair is cut well but is still in a permanent state of dishevelment. He takes reasonable care of himself but he values appearance only insofar as the way it effects the attitude of others.

One more thing: if Sherlock were ever in a position to see them, there are numerous small symmetrical scars on his spine and lower back... puncture wounds? Injection sites? It's hard to say.* There are a couple fine scars to his face and upper neck as well, although strangely few anywhere below that. Also his left shin has the signature minute bone-swelling of having been broken somewhere where medical attention was sparse.*

* = not even Gordon is aware of these things yet.

[alittleblackmagic]

Palom is pretty straightforward! He always dresses in the clothes in his icons; they are what pass as mage robes in his world. He makes no attempt at hiding what he is: a bratty little kid with generally good intentions. His default expression is a smirk and his default attitude is insolent.

Most people will also notice that Palom gets more and more rude when he gets annoyed. This is pretty normal. Maybe fewer people will realize that Palom also becomes rude when he feels sad; he usually defaults to anger, instead. It's not really that he's trying to hide it more than it's just that the only way he knows how to cope is to be angry and rude. Again, pretty normal for a little kid.

From his appearance, Palom is very obviously young; however, probably very few people will realize that he is actually only five years old because his speech and his behavior could certainly pass for a ten-year-old's. He is something of a child genius.

And of course, he does magic. Sherlock has no gauge on magic, but he is an exceptionally powerful magician, even compared to full-grown adults.

[only_one_m]

Okay, you know that cliche where even someone who isn't Sherlock can tell if you're Military? Stuff like good posture and having a really efficient, marchy walk? No, am I just making that up? I don't know. Either way, Samus has some of that going on. Another mannerism thing is that she very rarely fully relaxes. She's very alert and even subtly on-edge.

If he finds himself checking her out (sure, just for the detective work) she pretty unmistakably has a body like a gymnast. Small, unobstructive but very developed muscles, all about agility. However, where she looks slightly strong she actually is insanely strong; there are no clues on her person that she has alien DNA and all the plot-convenient perks that go with it.

Beyond that, most of Samus's cultural/economic/occupational mannerisms and traces and such are from nowhere near Earth, so there's not much about them Sherlock would recognize. Her family probably is vaguely Irish in descent considering "Samus" is a female variant of "Seamus" and "Aran" could be derived from the islands, but the Arans had pretty much been living off Earth for way too long for her to have an Irish accent or anything for him to pick up on. The name, though, might stick out to him.

[the_ko_stands_for_tiger]

Hmm.

Kotetsu is pretty straightforward. Obviously, the easiest thing for Sherlock to pick up is his hero versus his civilian identity, but he might also note his tendency to deflect the conversation away from himself, which would indicate some level of discomfort about talking about his personal life too much.

Tsuruya is incredibly straight-forward. At most, he might pick up slight traces in her bearing and her taste in clothing that indicates she comes from a very well-to-do family, but that's about it. Besides that, despite attempts to try to find any underlying sadness, he'll find that she acts happy because frankly most of the time she is -- although when she's NOT, she might try a little harder to be happy.

Ran, even though she doesn't remember her master, carries herself like a servant -- just ever so slightly stooped, very conservative and overly respectful. She is for the most part fine, but there's an underlying tone to her voice that suggests a certain hollowness, as if something very important to her was ripped away with her memories. This also comes with some underlying melancholy she tries not to advertise too much. That said, the way she looks around her tends to be very calculating at all times, as if ensuring she takes in enough of her environment to prepare for anything.

Hiroshi's probably the biggest case. He tends to be slightly more tense around supernatural beings in a fashion that hints heavily at a mild phobia. He's also a little jumpy; he can mostly contain it, but if anything surprises him he reacts a lot more strongly than most people, suggesting a certain degree of post-traumatic disorder. Although he acts like he's a rational scientist, he seems almost too eager to put on this image, suggesting that it is at least partly manufactured. He does, despite what his icon indicate, change clothes, but he always, always wears the scarf despite the weather, suggesting it functions as a bit of a security blanket for him.

[modernholmes]

The first thing Sherlock is likely to notice about Conan is that the kid is hiding something. He's much more intelligent and observant than he would like everyone to believe, and often slips up in his attempts to convince everyone that he's just a smart kid. ESPECIALLY when there's a mystery around. He has a bad habit of tl;dring about various subjects and then backpedaling as he claims that he saw something about it on television. Even after speaking for several minutes on the history of obscure folklore traditions or some detailed chemical method in forensic science.

His body language and vocabulary tends to vary widely too, from childish and cutesy, to cool and confident. At times he borders on arrogant.

Conan is an avid soccer player, but his skills are far in advance of where they should be for a child his age. Likewise, his reading ability, general knowledge, and language skills are all far ahead of his apparent age. He plays the violin. Conan has perfect pitch, but no relative pitch at all. Because of this he can hear and identify tones, but is incapable of replicating them with his voice.

He prefers more formal clothing than most normal children. He is rarely seen without a jacket of some kind. Sport, athletic or formal. He wears glasses, but they are actually made out of clear bulletproof glass.

He has several scars, including a healed bullet wound on his stomach and a knife scar on his chest.

[histrionic]

Kuja: He is a magical construct visually identical to a living human. He is also made of artifice and cloaked in illusion that can't be seen through by human eyes. He is someone with absolutely no physical fear; his physical form is virtually indestructible. He loves poetry and plays, has never done any manual labor. (This is likely clear from his ornate clothing and long, pointed fingernails.) His people aren't highly sexually dimorphic. Since he's basically impossible in Sherlock's world, I'm not sure how much he'll be able to deduce? Ha ha, I don't know.

Sephiroth: So military, it hurts (anyone could deduce this in an instant, though). There's an insignia on his uniform, but he doesn't cover his chest and has extremely long hair, unusual (if not unheard of) for a swordsman. Has strength and endurance far beyond any ordinary human. The glowing green eyes with slit pupils are a fairly obvious physical trait. He has absolutely no scars or sign of any past injury. He's also someone who's under a lot of strain.

Reno: Works for the government. Never follows the dress code. Has facial tattoos. Was in a gang when she was young. Carries a gun but prefers to use her taser rod. Has a lot of scars from past injuries. Drinks and smokes. Acts a lot more foolish/lackadaisical than she actually is, as an act to get people off their guard. Is actually a highly competent, well-trained, well-paid professional killer.

[theinfamous1412]

Kuroba Kaito: He appears to be a rambunctious, but over all mostly normal seventeen year old at first glass. He's a prankster and unprofessional on master illusionist level magician. He's friendly and easy going and generally wearing a bright smile if he's not plotting something to get himself into trouble. Sherlock will probably notice that something is slightly... off about Kaito. He shows signs of genius level intelligence but seems to favor acting like a fool.

Kaito constantly has things things tucked away on his person but considering he's so good at smoke and mirrors I highly doubt if that's even noticeable since he went to school with the detective and it's never really been mentioned. Although I strongly believe he wouldn't be able to do anything about smelling kind of like gunpowder though that is probably normal for a magician.

Kaitou Kid: Is an enigma. However, if Sherlock gets close enough he'll probably notice that Kid's tuxedo is slightly too big for him and the pant legs are rolled up a bit. O-other than that there isn't a whole lot to notice.


Harry Potter: Harry is thin. Very thin with knobby knees and looks like he's been underfed. Obviously, There's that scar on his forehead and now, since Harry comes from book five, a curious scar across his right hand that reads 'I must not tell lies.' His clothes-at least muggle clothes- are too big for him which makes him appear a lot thinner than he really is.

Harry also will probably be exhibiting signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder such as anger, agression, nightmares, feeling alone and alienated. Things like that.

Also, Also. Magic.

[waterfell]

I'll try to think carefully about what a sharp observer might notice and include little tidbits in threads as we go, including aspects of what I write here. In general, however, and to get myself thinking about what to include:

AMI:

Refined manners and speech suggest a very wealthy background, enough for her to have had a (mistaken) reputation as a 'snobby rich princess' at school (they were mistaken only about the snobby part). These days, she deliberately acts more casual, but some of the prim and proper habits remain (though she often uses them facetiously now).

Fingers might have a touch of ink at times, not from a printing press but because of so much reading. She's a highly competent surgeon who often advises the others, possibly notable in the movements of her hands, as they're steady enough for the work.

If he ever sees her with a weapon (her sword), it'll be notable at once that she knows what she's doing with it, far more skilled than a young adult should probably be (thanks to her abilities from the past life).

What he will probably notice most however, are the emotional cues she tries to hide, because they come through in her posture and movements. When she is nervous, she has a tendency to fidget with her hands and/or try to act more confident than she is.

Enough traces of the mind-control are still there for her to have trouble with healing/purifying magic. What this means for Holmes is he may note some signs that she seems prone to headaches. (He would likely assume the cause is natural and physical of course.)

When in Mercury form, one of her earrings shows a bit of odd wear as if it's been rubbed frequently like a nervous habit (in reality, using it to summon her VR visor).

It's unlikely he'd see it, but there is a very bad scar at her chest, like she was stabbed there and somehow lived to tell about it. There may also be other, very faint scars on the arms and legs and such, as she is, after all, in battle a lot. Normally she dresses modestly anyway, so these would not be easily seen. Show conventions never make a big deal of them, either, so it's a tossup whether they exist or somehow fade.

LETHE:

This is much more difficult. Water is a theme, as she is the guardian of the river of Oblivion. As such, she is the proverbial ferryman as well, and he might note her hands are calloused from the oar or something like that to suggest she is involved in boating or rowing somehow.

He might be able to put together the fact she grew up surrounded by war (reactions to being startled, I don't know what else specifically).

The golden bracelets don't quite seem to suit the rest of her outfit; they might have been a gift, but she also doesn't seem to have given them much typical care someone should be giving expensive jewelry if it was.

[theycallhersunshine]

Alice dresses neat and rather modest, though she does tend to favor skirts over pants despite this. She's rather attractive and well figured but she either doesn't notice this or doesn't care and she's actually quite awful at "talking with boys" because it never occurs to her that they might be interested in her. Her mind is, of course, all consumed by mysteries instead.

She's incredibly intelligent and observant, though she can have trouble sometimes connecting with another person emotionally. She's unfailingly polite, at least on the surface, but she could actually be feeling any number of things under the thin veneer of her socialite's smile, including raging anger.

She can bake and sew, though she rarely does either, more inclined to practice her marksmanship or billiards skill. She rarely speaks to either her mother or her father, and her closest relative was her Grandam, who died when she was 16; she carries a pocket watch on her at all times from her Grandam.

Alice has also been trained in formal dancing, though she very rarely has opportunity to use that either.

Her family on her mother's side was some sort of very old European nobility. She travels often between Europe and Japan, and her father has a high position in the police in Japan. She owns a redtail hawk.

That's... all I can think of, for now.

[plotdeviceturk]

Tseng is complicated.

Let's start with the obvious visual things:

He's rather obviously religious, the tialk on his forehead being a massive indicator and the long hair may be another.

98% of the time he's seen in public he wears his uniform (black suit and tie with a zipper instead of buttons, always zipped, steel toe boots), and when not wearing it he is a very monochromatic dresser. Pale blues being the only other color besides black or white that he owns. He wears his tie a touch too tight.

He has multiple scars, though they're usually hidden beneath his clothes. The most visible is a relatively new one on his face from Kadaj, fainter older ones litter his arms and there are a number that are from a katana rather obviously going through his body as well as surgical ones on either side of his ribcge, the one of his left is crossed by one of the same age where he had two ribs completely replaced with metal.

His hands are calloused from gun use, swordplay, writing a lot and generally using them very very often.

While faint, and majorly unnoticeable he does have a wutaiian (essentially Japanese) accent, especially when under duress or inebriated.

He's nearly 40 years old, and moves like someone who's been trained to fight their entire life though has gotten a bit stiff over the years between essentially destroying his body with work and general age-related deterioration.

He carries on his person at least one handgun and two knives at all times.

Non-Physical/Mental/Social tics:

He smokes predominately clove cigarettes, but very rarely does so in public and never indoors.

He swears, but doesn't take the name of any god/goddess in vain.

He can definitely hold his alcohol, and practices doing so on a regular basis.

He is extremely protective of his Turks and Rufus, despite whatever he shows the world at large.

He feels absolutely no remorse for killing people, it's not saving the few he's tried to that eats at him.

He is a master of finding loopholes.

He feels he has no actual control over his own life and has accepted it.

Tseng's views on his nationalty and heritage are a massive mixed bag, he was in Midgar during a LOT of the war against Wutai and being rather obviously from there he recieved a lot of hate regarding it. He prefers to be seen as a Turk than Wutaiian because people aren't as likely to try to beat a Turk up or insult them to their face. He isn't sure if his homeland would ever accept him back after what he did against it during the war, let alone if the people he'd go back to are still alive.

TL;DR: Tseng is effing complicated, never had a say in his own fate really (and has accepted this), doesn't like to let people close and as the leader of a bunch of deskworker assasins will mess you up if you screw with them. He's pretty much a Tonberry.

[sealedtruth]

Rufus Rufus is a business man for most part, he knows all about the little saying 'scratch my back and I'll scratch yours', but just make sure you don't cross him, else you might end up meeting your end once he's got no more use for you. He's not quite the spoiled brat he used to be, though he's certainly still got some arrogance about him. He's used to power and knows its uses. Unless given reason otherwise, he'll be civil to those he speaks with, though its possible for the perceptive to pick up on how he feels about the person he's talking to or talking about from the tone of voice, body language and even word choices.

Rufus also seeks to make himself look larger than he actually is, this is most obvious in his clothing choices. He wears white because it makes him look bigger than he is, and it grabs attention.

He's also stubborn when he decides to be, once he's set his mind on something its near impossible to get him to change it. Anyone who stands in the way of his goals also stands the chance of getting taken out or worked into those goals to aid him in reaching them. He also actually sincerely trusts extremely few people, namely his Turks and to an extent, Reeve. He's seen how people can be used to control others and knows emotions can be manipulated, thus he shows little of it himself given the choice. It's said no one has ever seen him cry, which just supports his lack of public display of emotions.

Basically, Rufus is a civil business man, who knows how power can be used and abused, isn't above abusing it for his own gain, and can be rather a vicious brat when it suits him to be. Most the time however, he tends to pretend to be the soul of civility unless provoked otherwise.

Sephiroth Sephiroth is a lady with mixed emotions about her current line of work and those whom control her strings. She's a military woman, and acts it the majority of the time, in manner, speech and action. Anyone who says her gender makes her a weaker fighter than a man will get put in their place, sometimes via her proving that she's not at all weak. She uses the sword to fight with, a thing which is obvious should you get a good look at her hands. Her hair color and her eyes set her apart from the rest of humanity however.

Due to her earliest upbringing she's got a knack and an interest for science and a damn good memory works to her advantage as well. One might tell from her uniform, with its lack of shirt, and merely a bra to support her breasts, she has little modesty to speak of.

She also has an aggressive attitude toward most men, except those who have managed to earn her respect by treating her as an equal and not talking down to her.

Fuuma|Kamui
Fuuma can present an enigma, some might even say he's got personality layered within his personality. But jokes aside, Fuuma can depending upon his setting, the people he's with, and what he's currently up to, seem downright sadistic and predatory, to civil, polite and even sad over actions he's taken, or even rather charismatic and humorous.

Also he's shown himself to be a rather decent actor should he decide to be, he's pretended more than once to be the boy he had been prior to becoming 'Kamui' to Kamui well enough he had the poor boy believing he had "went back to normal" only to shatter his hopes when Kamui let down his guard. Might be wise really not to trust too much of what is shown unless you actually think it's genuine, since he's shown he can go from seemingly tenderness to viciousness within seconds.

One could say that it really depends on what is going on around the young man as to how he tends to act. He's also become extremely perceptive about people and events since he's become what he is now. Perhaps Sherlock might pick up on that knowing look in Fuuma's golden eyes, they're possibly the only things which actually can betray him I think.