asgard app welp

[consultsdetective]

IC Information;

Character Name; Greg Lestrade
Canon; BBC's Sherlock [ a general character wiki is here: http://bbc-sherlock.wikia.com/wiki/DI_Greg_Lestrade ] ; [ and a general series article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_(TV_series) ]
Canon Point; post 'The Reichenbach Fall'.
Age; Not stated to my knowledge. I estimate him at around 48-49.

House; While his department of work with homicide and serious crime could qualify him pretty easily for Hel, I think that overall Lestrade is best suited to Heimdall. His dedication to his work is intense and very long-running (likely nearing 15-20 years by this point in his life), something that still shines through. Lestrade is committed to seeing justice given, to keeping civilians safe from even just one more dangerous criminal, to the point where he'll bend or even break rules to see it done. He's noticeably upset and angry when he can't manage it. Lestrade's duty as he sees it is to serve and protect the public, and it's not a duty that he's ever taken lightly.

Power; Damage Drain

Personality; A person's first impression of Greg Lestrade is likely to see him coming across as tired, cynical, sarcastic and rather put-upon, especially as far as his first appearance in A Study in Pink is concerned. He answers questions from the press very frankly and succinctly, not lending much apparent thought to how to be diplomatic- and not comfortable with all the focus being put on him, by the looks of things. Excess attention isn't something that he's fond of, least of all when he's in the middle of a set of cases that are clearly somehow connected, with no clue as to what's really connecting them. The interview and his general shortcomings in handling it without botching the whole thing (by which I mean the fact that some of his best advice on staying safe in the event that this turns out to be a serial killer is "don't commit suicide") mostly seem to lie in his trusting the guidance of Sally Donovan, one of his subordinates.

Throughout the series, it's shown that Lestrade is well aware of the fact that Sherlock is damn useful and that he can get a criminal locked up where he belongs faster if he brings him in to consult on a difficult case. In a profession where what you come by on your own merits is undoubtedly important, this says a lot about Lestrade and his priorities. He's not too proud to admit to needing help or to being at a loss. He's got tenacity in spades and the ability to compromise when he knows he needs to, which probably had a lot to do with his getting to be a D.I. Catching a criminal, closing a case, putting a victim's family at ease as soon as possible, that's more important than getting around to it with his own two hands. It's the justice of the matter that seems to be the most important to Lestrade, which speaks volumes about his character in itself.

On the whole, Lestrade is just a good guy. He knows the difference between right and wrong, he believes in consequences to every action, and it's the desire to see some good done in the world that likely made him take to a career in law enforcement. However it is that he can get that good done, whether it means bending a less-than-important rule or letting unauthorized personnel onto crime scenes, doing the right thing seems to always be high on his priorities list. His team seems to be fond of him and respect him, at the least enough to let him let Sherlock Holmes horn in on their work without lodging any official complaints, and it seems like he has a healthy dose of respect for them in return. He gave Sherlock a chance and something to keep him occupied when it's implied in canon that he met him as a drug user- he still gives him chances, he still keeps him occupied, when he doesn't have any real obligation to do so. Lestrade is a responsible individual who recognizes the importance of just trying to be a good person now and again. Not too surprising, considering how often he gets to see the worst sides humanity has to offer.

It would be unfair to go through this section without bringing up his relationship with Sherlock- a very unique one that I would call three parts professional and one part personal. Lestrade is one of very few people in the world who could be called a 'friend' of Sherlock Holmes, and is apparently enough of one to merit being used as an unknowing hostage by Moriarty later in the game. Lestrade recognizes Sherlock's intellect and usefulness, and apparently has for 5+ years. He goes to him for assistance, asks questions, respects him, admires him a bit, tries to make him see that society's rules do in fact apply to him. He's patient enough with Sherlock's unorthodox methods and lack of social skills, but he won't take too much and let himself just be walked all over. Knowing Sherlock would find and hang onto a piece of important evidence in the first episode, Lestrade takes no issue with setting up a "drugs bust" to coerce him into cooperating fully. He sets it out for Sherlock very clearly- the case is Scotland Yard's and he is letting him in on it. He puts up with and argues to death with annoying, frustrating, impossible Sherlock Holmes and there's a fifty-fifty chance he'll be grinning to himself when the man walks away. They work together and keep up a general air of getting along... as much as anyone who isn't John really tends to, in Sherlock's world.

Lestrade does have his other sides, of course. While he's willing to bend the rules here and there for the sake of settling a case, he still holds respect for them and he'll back down if his superiors tell him he has to. He'll still prefer to try to get it done by the book for simplicity's sake, if nothing else. He doesn't care to sugarcoat whatever he has to say most of the time, and very much doesn't seem the type to do a lot for proper speech and manners. Greg's a very casual, common, down-to-earth sort of man, laid-back if things have somehow miraculously quieted down enough to allow him to be. They don't tend to quiet down much, and he's not the sort of man to leave off. His profession is the sort of profession that is his life and livelihood. Obsessions and late hours and severe focus- and possibly the reason that his wife took up cheating on him. It's the sort of work that gets to you, no matter how much you tell yourself it won't or can't any more than it already has, and at his age he's undoubtedly well aware of that. Lestrade is a jaded individual in some ways. He'll use fairly underhanded tactics to get what he needs when he feels he absolutely has to, and he's definitely not afraid to get his hands dirty.

In fact, it's not often that Lestrade will sit back and delegate while others do the hands-on part of the work. He likes to rely on what he can see for himself, isn't afraid to roll up his sleeves and dig into a crime scene alongside his team. When he actually gets involved in the work Sherlock and John are doing in the Hounds episode, he's very genuinely pleased to be, and enjoys getting to be. He's not the most intelligent man in the world, but he's clever enough to know a lot of his shortcomings and to trust his associates to pick up on what he might miss. Lestrade's a man who cares a lot about what he's doing and isn't all that great at hiding it, if he's trying to hide it at all. He'll prioritize and push his own personal business to the side for the sake of the work and isn't likely to feel a lot of guilt over it if the results are worth the effort (case in point, heading down to play the role of Sherlock's keeper at Baskerville even though he'd apparently very recently separated from his wife). He's fairly good about not reacting too drastically, actually; Sherlock at one point very flatly informs him that his wife is not giving it another shot but is in fact sleeping with a P.E. teacher, and there is a distinct lack of yelling or punching to go with it.

So in a nutshell, Detective Inspector Lestrade is a strange unofficial sort of Team Dad. He's mature, he's responsible, he's good at his job and proud of his work, but not afraid to ask for a helping hand when he needs it. His poker face is pretty lousy and he's almost always on the run-down, stressed out, sleep-deprived edge of things. When he gets the chance to relax, he's friendly and laid-back. Lestrade's not afraid to cop an attitude here and there, and not afraid to call Sherlock on unacceptable bullshit, but he'll listen to what his superiors have to say, and man up to accept the consequences of his own actions as necessary. He deals with death and violence almost every day of his life, works hard, and has a hell of a lot of patience- to say nothing for how much he seems to just… want to do good in the world. Whatever it takes, he wants people to have justice. He feels oddly responsible for Sherlock Holmes, for all that he'll never understand what's going on in that man's mind, and for all that he's learned to just give up trying to.