application for FR
Player name: Gels
Journal: drdaytimetelly
AIM: gelsqkazoo
Email: PM to drdaytimetelly
Other characters: N/A
Character name: Dr. John H. Watson
Canon: Sherlock (the BBC series)
Age: late 30s
Canon point: Nearing the end of the third episode of the first series. For the purposes of the game I'm saying that Moriarty (or rather, Moriarty's dastardly henchmen) knocked John out as they were kidnapping him, thus sending him to dreamland....aka Limbo.
Totem: John's totem will be the mobile his sister gave him. It's unique enough that only John will be able to tell when there's a change to it (well, John and Sherlock, but that's Sherlock Holmes for you), and for the most part will work in Limbo almost the same way it works in reality. John will be able to turn it on, scroll through past messages, take pictures, call and text other mobile phones in Limbo, but as long as he's in Limbo he'll never be able to call outside the dream. This will be his way of telling whether or not he's still trapped within the dream - this can also be easily manipulated for game-related events.
Weapons: John brings with him an army-issued Browning L9A1 handgun and some ammunition.
Abilities/powers none.
Location: St Bartholomew’s Hospital
St. Bart's is one of the oldest hospitals in the United Kingdom - it's sprawling and historic, with many paintings by famous English artists lining its walls in its Great Hall, and a statue of King Henry VIII at its Baroque-styled main gate. St Bart's is a state-of-the-art teaching hospital, with laboratories, lecture halls, and other teaching facilities, as well as the usual rooms and facilities found in hospitals for the treatment of patients.
Personality
Any first impression of John Watson would probably be that he's an ordinary sort of fellow. He's not outwardly impressive, not like his companion, Sherlock Holmes, but definitely a good, compassionate person, disciplined and organised from his days spent in the army, and certainly not lacking in charm, warmth, or humour. He's a doctor, and a very good one at that, likes a pint or two with the guys, and probably watches a bit too much daytime telly. Kind of just...average. However, John Watson is anything but average, but luckily it doesn't take much for the extraordinary side of the man to make an appearance.
Having formerly served as an army doctor in Afghanistan, John Watson is a soldier who was given a medical discharge from the army due to an injury suffered on the battlefield. The traumatic nature of the injury has given him all sorts of issues, which includes a psychosomatic limp and possible PTSD. We're told at the beginning of the series that he has issues trusting people, very likely also due to the injury, and he also suffers from frequent flashback-like nightmares. Though not outright disrespectful to his therapist, or even willfully disregarding his treatment, John has difficultly taking his army-appointed therapist seriously. Partially it's his inability to accept that he is actually in need or some help, and probably some mortification at being in need of treatment in the first place.
A lot of what John does-and-does-not suffer from gets played out during A Study in Pink, the first episode of the series. Upon meeting Sherlock Holmes' brother, Mycroft, we're told that John's PTSD isn't so much as a disorder brought on by trauma, but more John's longing to return to the battlefield. To paraphrase Mycroft, it's not that he's haunted by the battlefield, it's that he misses it, and intermittent tremor that shakes his left hand is not, in fact, caused by stress, but actually the lack thereof. For RP purposes I'm willing to give some benefit of the doubt to his therapist (and the British army) and say that, yes, John probably does suffer from PTSD, but that he also misses the constant thrill of the unknown, the adrenaline of working in a high-stress environment, and the feeling of making a difference and being useful.
This is where Sherlock Holmes comes in. It's this partnership with Sherlock that gives John his purpose again. It could be said that John's a bit of an adrenaline junkie, hence his willingness to run after dangerous criminals with some man he just met. John expresses his reluctance to live anywhere else but London - this he shares with Sherlock, as he equally needs the bustling city as much as his brilliant flat-mate does. He needs London for its life and it's resemblance to the battlefield, and it's chasing after criminals through the city with Sherlock gives John the thrill he so desperately missed.
Though John has trouble trusting people (something his therapist stresses in the beginning of A Study in Pink, Sherlock easily wins his steadfast loyalty within the first day of being introduced to him. Once that trust has been earned it’s shown that John is deeply loyal - he's loyal to his country, he's loyal to profession, and he's loyal to Sherlock Holmes. Within that first day of meeting his future flat-mate, John refuses to betray Sherlock's confidence to an exceedingly wealthy stranger (who turns out to be Mycroft Holmes), even for a very large sum of money, and then later in the very same evening he shoots and kills a man without hesitation in order to save Sherlock. John is clearly very reluctant to ask for help from people, but he seems to not have any trouble relying on Sherlock, especially after his limp and the tremors in his hand are "miraculously cured" by Sherlock.
John is an incredibly brave human being. He's always willing to dive into the line of fire or some completely insane fight (which occurs rather often thanks to Sherlock). His courageous nature is only further emphasised by the fact that after completing medical school he signed up to serve in the armed forces. While John's bravery is usually a noble trait most of the times, he can be brave to the point of sheer stupidity, and his bravery can lead him to make very impulsive decisions....hence moving into a flat with an oddball detective he'd only just met. John's bravery walks hand-in-hand with a complete willingness to sacrifice himself for others - without thinking he'll throw his life away for someone else.
John's moral compass is very black and white: the bad guys are bad, the good guys are good, and killing is wrong (except for when you're killing a bad guy). This is probably a hang-up left over from his army days, when the enemies were the ones shooting your comrades-in-arms and it was encouraged to kill them before they kill you. As a bit of a flip side to this, it means that John is still very much in army mode, and will kill if need be (even though killing anyone, even in self defence, is very much frowned upon). This isn't to say that John doesn't value and cherish life - the very opposite, in fact. He often disapproves of Sherlock's nonchalant attitude towards strangers in peril and his casual flippancy regarding death. As a side note, John will probably be deeply troubled by the fact that the Barge's attitude towards death can be so blasé at times.
Though Sherlock usually fights him tooth and nail when it comes to the right and wrong of things, John often serves as Sherlock's conscience and usually tries to remind him of how things may look to outsiders. John is a very genuine man, and he means what he says when he says them. He does idolise Sherlock and his brilliance, and is sorely disappointed when the detective doesn't live up to his expectations. John is very much in awe of Sherlock's capabilities, and though Sherlock warns him not to make him out as a hero, it's likely that John will never stop hoping that Sherlock will one day surprise him.
Despite this sort of hero-worship he has for Sherlock, John is a practical human being, and though he does have a penchant for following around the world's only consulting detective, he is surprisingly down-to-earth. He's personable, rather easy-going when it comes to the ladies, practical, and has a very good sense of humour (though sometimes it does have a bit of a dark streak). John also possess a bit of a temper that flares up occasionally, but otherwise John usually keeps his cool. He'll rarely shout at other people, but when he does it's usually due to his own frustration with himself or his predicament.
As for the people in his life, John has one sibling, a sister nicknamed Harry, and unsurprisingly their relationship is a bit strained. Typical of a lot of sibling relationships, John does love his sister, but he doesn't always like her. Though definitely not a teetotaller himself, John strongly disapproves of his sister's drinking. It's not a stretch to say that John disapproves of his sister's life choices in general, though it's worth noting that there's a difference between his sister's life choices and his sister's lifestyle. Harriet Watson is a lesbian, formerly with a woman named Clara, but the topic of homosexuality is a non-issue with John. He rather notably tells Sherlock that "it's all fine", and it really is with John - John and Sherlock are often mistaken for a couple, and though John tries to correct them, the misconception doesn't really bother him.
What John does disapproves of is his sister's disorderly, drunken mess of a life, as it clashes so heavily with his own organised and disciplined way of doing things. Ironically, the lives of both the Watson siblings are in disarray, but there might be some small bit of resentment on John's behalf towards Harry because she let her life fall to pieces. Harry has only herself to blame, whereas John's messy life was handed to him purely by chance. Harry very clearly worries about her brother, hence giving him the fancy new mobile (that Clara had given her as a gift) so that he'd stay in touch, however she seems a bit oblivious about John's disapproval with her and her drinking.
Sherlock Holmes is easily the most important person in John's life. John does have a bit of a darker side - he's seen horrific things while in Afghanistan, things that quite obviously haunt him, and yet he seems to cherish the idea of diving right back into that gruesome world. This issue would normally be picked apart by therapists, as it's quite obviously not a healthy attitude towards the war and shows a real lack of self-preservation, but it actually makes John the perfect foil for Sherlock Holmes. While John isn't anywhere near as brilliant as Sherlock is, he's no idiot - though it's pretty obvious that Sherlock wouldn't have a bumbling idiot following him around anyway. John can keep up with Sherlock, and where Sherlock might disgust, horrify, or exasperate others with his weird experiments and even weirder behaviour, John seems to take it all in stride. In fact, sometimes it even just amuses him.
John's relationship with Sherlock, as unhealthy as it may seem to outsiders, is actually very healthy (relatively) and quite good for them both. Aside from giving John his sense of purpose again, Sherlock makes him look fairly normal by comparison. John's presence balances out Sherlock's lack of social skills, as he's often the one interpreting others emotional reactions for Sherlock or translating (and sometimes softening) Sherlock's blunt responses to others. Though Sherlock is a super genius that treats his mind like a hard drive, he can be a complete and utter idiot at times when it comes to certain things (like the solar system, or how to be not-a-complete-jerk), but John seems more than able to fill in the gaps that are left blank thanks to Sherlock's brain. John is also protective of the detective. He admires him and clearly hero-worships him (much to Sherlock’s chagrin), and has both gone out of his way to keep Sherlock from harm, but also quietly stands up for his friend when others taunt him or attempt to humiliate him.
History:
Though we know a lot about John's personal life - he was a doctor with the army, he served in Afghanistan, he has a sister named Harriet - his actual history is not entirely clear. A lot of what follows is based on the very general facts presented to us in the series.
John mentions being trained at Saint Bartholomew's Hospital in London. Given the number of years that one needs to study in order to become a doctor, and assuming that John probably entered medical school at age 18, he probably finished school around the age of 25-26. He quite probably joined the army a few years later after becoming a full-fledged doctor, eventually being shipped out to Afghanistan at some point after war was declared.
It's in Afghanistan that John is injured in a way that both takes him out of the army and eventually leads him to Sherlock Holmes. The injury is traumatic - a bullet to the shoulder - and means that John was likely either stationed at a base that came under attack, or was he somehow injured while on the move. For my purposes (mainly because I know next to NOTHING about army procedure), I'm going to say that John Watson was a medical officer stationed in a forward operating base. These bases are closer to enemy territory and sometimes have hospitals on the premises, and so an army doctor like John would have been present if the base was to come under attack.
Again, the injury is traumatic - so traumatic that it earns him a medical discharge from the army and leaves him with a psychosomatic limp and intermittent tremors in his left hand. He returns to London and immediately begins to struggle with his surroundings. The series begins at this point in time: John is seen living in a tiny flat, hard up for money, and seeing a psychologist for supposed PTSD. It's at this point in time that John runs into an old friend, Mike Stamford, from his school days at St Barts. It's through Mike that John is introduced to Sherlock Holmes, and that's when the real shenanigans begin.
As the rest of John's history centres around his adventures with Sherlock Holmes, I'm going to provide links to the wiki and blog entries that contain the summaries.
A Study in Pink summary (wiki)//A Study in Pink (John's blog)
The Blind Banker summary (wiki)//The Blind Banker (John's blog)
The Great Game summary (wiki)
3rd person sample:
Everything ached. His head, his shoulder, his leg - and oh god, he was drowning. They must have thrown him in the Thames. Moriarty's men kidnapped him, conked him on the head, and threw him into the Thames. He struggled underneath the water, failing arms and legs and thanking the henchmen for being stupid (or forgetful) enough to leave him unbound, finally breaking the surface as a wave crashed on his head. His feet found the sandy bottom of the river and hauled himself to his feet, wiping water away from his eyes and sputtering stupidly when he finally managed to pry them open.
He blinked his eyes in disbelief, casting a glance over his shoulder and then back towards the shore. Not the Thames, then. Not London either, judging from the state of the buildings in front of him. It suddenly occurred to him that if this wasn't the Thames or London - or any city he knew, for that matter - that he had no idea where he was. Even more disturbing, he had not idea how he got here.
And even more disturbing than that, John realised he didn't hear a thing. A silent city was a horrifying thing, and John worried that he'd somehow found himself back in a warzone.
John stumbled out from the water, the waves pushing him forward until he was left dragging his feet through the sand. He stopped to watch the part of a skyscraper crumble and fall into the water he'd just hauled himself out of, unable to keep himself from feeling horrified and very, very worried. His first instinct was to somehow blame Moriarty for all of this - after all, he was an easy person to turn into a scapegoat - but he realised that this was perhaps too bizarre for the criminal mastermind. Too bizarre....and Moriarty probably wouldn't have put in this much effort to get rid of John Watson.
Despite how much he loathed to press on, John knew he needed to head into the seemingly abandoned city. He began to move forward, soaked to the bone, aching and limping, and silently praying to God that he'd run across somebody. Anybody.
...well, anybody so long as they didn't want to kill him, anyway.
1st person sample.
[audio, in which John Watson tries to establish first contact;]
Hello? ....hello? Is anybody out there? [There's a pause, and then the sound of John tapping on the speaker.]
I....I'm new here. [There's some angry murmuring - the only clear-sounding words are this is stupid and idiot, possibly preceded by I sound like. He laughs, though it's not very amused-sounding - it's bitter and full of disbelief, and when he speaks again he sounds more desperate:]
Look, I don't know what's going on. I just kind of washed up on shore and found my way here. I was just trying to find some people, that's all, I need help getting home, but there's.....
[He drops his voice down to a whisper:]
My things are here. My books, my laptop, my clothes, even my bloody -- [He takes a deep breath.] My cane. And I think I wandered by St Bart's, but I know this isn't London. So if anyone's out there, please, please speak up. My name's John Watson. Please just tell me I'm not alone.