Jim Moriarty

Player Information
Name: Eri
Timezone: GMT -5
Personal Journal: ishika_seki @LJ
Players Contact/AIM/MSN/YAHOO: AIM – Yanderedere; MSN – ishikaseki@hotmail.com
Email Address: see MSN
Former/Other Characters in the RP: Ivan Braginski - APH
How did you hear about us?: Have Ivan c:

Character Information
Name: James Moriarty
Canon Origin/Series: BBC Sherlock
School Year: 6th year
Gender: Male
Age: Seventeen [By now? December birthday, so…]
Out of school living location: Killarney, Ireland
Blood status: Pureblood

Personality: Bored sociopath inside and out. It’s hard to get a read on dear Jim Moriarty, because he has an awful tendency to show those he’s interacting with what he wants them to see, and only what he wants them to see, which leads to him to, sometimes, crafting completely different personas for the purposes of what might amount to only one or two interactions. Gay, clumsy, Jim from IT. Hapless “actor” Richard Brooks, the storyteller from the television. Innocent cab driver. He’s a man of many masks, and it’s hard to peel them all away to get at the real man underneath. Not that many would want to. He’s an adder in the skin of a man, and will not hesitate to use anyone who will let him, and some that won’t. Nevertheless, he possesses a damning charisma, which he will not hesitate to use first, in place of force. It just so happens that half the time, that charismatic man is sugar-coating threatening messages. Using a childish story to illustrate how bleak one’s odds are looking, for example.

Despite his “only flaw” being that he is “so changeable”; the one constant is that he is extremely intelligent. He is capable at reading and assessing what to do in a situation at a moment’s glance, and it is no more difficult to read a person, for him, than it is to read a newspaper. Reading someone; however, does not lead to understanding them. Most, if not all, expressions of emotion other than frustration, boredom, or sadistic glee are, more likely than not, a facsimile of how he has seen others act, react, and behave. He might be able to act his way to a BAFTA, but that won’t necessarily mean he is sincere in the least, unless it benefits him in some way or another.

Canon Background: Wiki page for the series, to give an idea of the setting. Episode summaries further down the page have more plot than the rest of the page, though beware of spoilers. Moriarty himself is a bit of an enigma, showing up as the primary antagonist with his fingers in all of the pies of the crime-doings in London and abroad, though rarely (if ever) getting his own hands dirty. That’s what lackeys are for. Here is the wiki page for the character in the original novels he is based on.

Also worth mentioning is the novel Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Ubervilles, by Kim Newman. It is lacking a wikipedia page, or, really, any sort of webpage at all. (Unsurprising, as it was released in 2011.) It goes further in-depth to Moriarty's character, and I'll end up refrencing this characterization wherever the BBC canon lacks.

Background (AU!Canon; HP): [Sayonara] Jim comes from a well-to-do wizarding family whose name has since been somewhat… besmirched… since the end of the war. They were always on the darker-leaning side of things, so when the Dark Lord rose to power, it was only natural that they become Death Eaters – or aspire to be such, as the case may be, ages considered. Jim himself, once the war was lost and he’d gotten old enough to reminisce on things – his (stupid) family’s dealings, the actions of those who could not successfully lie their way out of being sent to Azkaban, the Dark lord himself – got to thinking that he could do better. But he had to get through school first.

Growing up, Jim always knew he was more intelligent than most, and applied that to personal gains. “Please, Jim, will you fix it for me?” was a common theme in his circle of those who thought of him as a friend (he didn’t return the sentiment, not really – they were boring little flunkies, but profitable, so an act was put on, to great effect). It started out with him helping to organize sweets-heists and other such minor acts of mischief where siblings or pets would be blamed instead of the actual perpetrator, with Jim demanding a cut of the spoils or several weeks (or months) worth of allowance for the assistance. A profitable endeavor and one that let him stave off the boredom that edged in on him more often than not.

He found out early that he was a Parselmouth, simply by wandering off across family grounds, and finding it the most natural thing in the world to speak with the snakes he found in the tall grass – adders and harmless serpents alike. On telling family members of this particular talent, he got a few eyebrow raises, but not much more than that, affirming to him that it was a natural thing to be able to do, and those who were unable to do such were just not intelligent enough to understand the language, simple as that. It certainly made matters all the simpler when his scheming and naughty-doings ventured into more harmful territory – he wouldn’t have to get his own hands dirty when he could get a snake to bite someone, or even deliver correspondence between himself and his client, via short notes carried along by the reptile. All in all, his ventures were as profitable as the entrepreneurial doings of a child could be, and continued on once he got to Hogwarts – which in itself offered a new venue and new opportunities.

He would find routes to sneak around after curfew, and eventually got to the point where he could simply impart the “mission” – whether that was getting answers for a coming test for someone, or laying out an elaborate prank for another – to some sort of underling for a tiny fraction of what he was getting paid, or for calling for certain goods from home, unobtainable in the castle. They were in it for the thrill, typically, where Jim was in it for the scheming. He loved to figure out just how to get away with… anything, would steal the Sword of Gryffindor from Dumbledore’s office at the first chance he got, if given reason to. The hardest part would be choosing which scheme to implement. The one task he never passed off was teaching others how to do their own dirty work, in the form of darker-leaning magics. The spells themselves were always more than a passing fancy for him, and in addition to developing his own spells, he used the teaching opportunity to practice – even if that meant dealing with those of significantly lesser intelligence than himself.

In his actual academic career, Jim excels just as much as he does in his less than rule-abiding endeavors, if not moreso. Naturally intelligent, there isn’t much that doesn’t come easy to him, though he has a particular affinity towards astronomy, potions, and charms, with arithmancy being an odd side interest which he excels in similarly. He can do well in anything he puts his mind to, but if he considers the subject unnecessary, it is incredibly difficult to get him to dedicate the time to put into the homework, let alone the studying to do well. This has led his school career to be somewhat up and down, but with a general consensus of it being on the upward trend.

Boredom always loomed menacingly on the horizon, though, which led him to orchestrating bigger and more elaborate “games”, the location of Hogwarts itself being the only thing to prevent him from making his own attempt at outdoing the Dark Lord in criminal activity. He’s long past the point of getting his own hands dirty, though if talking is all that is required, he will select a façade and speak beautifully. He is, as ever, a charming young man, and able to fool most into believing his innocence – blame ever shifts masterfully onto others whenever his schemes go poorly, for whatever reason – at times, he has even found ways to profit from the original plot going counter to plan, which allows him to pat himself on the back and be content with how very changeable he can be, and he will carry on with his day, devising new plots, going into meticulous detail in researching the tiniest thing that catches his interest. All in all, Jim is a very bored young man, who has spent his days in school and out making subtle mischief to solve it, with personal gain to boot. Comparatively small mischiefs (though, admittedly, blood was shed on more than a few occasions, especially as he grew older and his propensity for violence similarly grew) in preparation for graduation, he’s certainly a person of interest. He hopes to drop off the radar soon after graduating, before the ministry catches notice, but can’t make any sort of guarantees of yet. That’s not to say he’s not planning and practicing now, though. [Livejournal]

How would your character fit in to each House?
Gryffindor: Jim is not afraid to take risks, in the name of advancement, though they are calculated risks. Bravery is the most flattering way to define stupidity, after all, and he is ever careful to not fall into that trap. While he is capable of chivalry, he is not likely to be sincere about its application (as sincere as he might appear), but as far as he is concerned, so long as the act is completed, then the recipient of the action is under the impression that the action itself was sincere, so it might as well have been. He has moments of recklessness, to be sure, but never with the goal of heroism in mind. He does fall quite squarely into the more negatively-skewed traits common to Gryffindors; however, as he is certainly not without his fair share of arrogance, and self-righteousness. That, too, follows in his disregard for rules and fair play – if he is right, then no rules were broken. The rules were wrong in the first place, so shouldn’t be followed.

Hufflepuff: What Jim lacks in fair play (and he lacks in that quite a bit), he more than makes up for in dedication and hard work. He is certainly dedicated to his advancement, and will work hard to achieve his goals, whatever those goals might be. To ensure that, he has to have some measure of patience, but in what areas that patience is applied seems slapdash and random – with him able to sit for hours reading his astronomy or arithmancy books, but hardly giving a glance at his Care of Magical Creatures homework. His personal pursuits are where the hard work is applied most often, and it shows, when he puts whatever he’s been brewing up in his head into practice. He is capable of loyalty, to be sure, but his loyalty is able to be turned for the right price, though once he is invested in one cause or another, bribing him is a hard sell, unless switching sides is more advantageous to his pursuits.

Ravenclaw: Jim is highly intelligent, and possesses the sort of sardonic wit that will force him to always get the last word in, if at all possible, and he always has an answer for everything. He feels his mental caliber is far above that of “normal, boring people”, and more often than not, has the knowledge to back it up. He is certainly creative (though not always in the most wholesome of ways), and will utilize this creativity to not only advance his studies, but to advance his current ambition. Studious when the time calls for it, though often complaining of the subject matter’s ease of boring him, he will finish assigned projects long before they are due to give himself the time to advance personal studies.

Slytherin: Aside from things which are purely genetic (pureblood, Parselmouth), Jim could almost be the poster boy for Slytherin house. He is cunning to a fault, and ambitious enough that he doesn’t care who he steps on or uses to get where he wants to be. He is resourceful enough that he will consider every possible outcome of a scenario, and even some impossible scenarios, to figure out what he can and cannot work with to get ahead in the game. To that end, he will collect similarly minded people to put to his uses. Expendable, in his opinion, but always having of some use. It’s noteworthy that they do not turn on him, but rather listen to his heavy-handed suggestions and bend to his requests. It helps him get ahead, to be sure, and occasionally helps them as well. Jim has little regard for anything resembling rules, fancying himself something of a Consulting Criminal, and will advertise such. “Please, Jim, will you fix it for me so that Johnny finds a bed in the infirmary?” Will be responded with a venomous smile and a price – or a range of prices, with options to the severity of poor little Johnny’s mishap. He gets bored, but is not above shrewdly manipulating “lesser” people to alleviate that boredom.

RP Samples: Dressing Room Post
Sample 2:
[Filtered to students with ill-intent]

Dear Jim, please will you fix it for me?

Dear Jim, please will you fix it so so-and-so finds her way to the hospital wing?

Dear Jim, please will you get me the answers to this test I have tomorrow?

Dear Jim, please will you fix it so this mischief I have planned goes off without me being blamed?

My dears, I am incredibly bored of late, so I figured I had best make a small advertisement of my particular… services. You see, I have a talent and knack for causing trouble without actually getting myself into it, and I do so greatly enjoy ironing out your simple little problems as well. No, no need to thank me, just… tell me what you need done, and I will arrange it for you.

For the right price, of course.