Are you comfortable with Gabriel seeing your character's soul? Yup perfectly fine.
What extremely important memories/aspects of personality/powers might he see? Surface: Snippy, Arrogant. Thinking almost always about work. HOWEVER since at that moment thinking about work involves wrapping up any danger left for John, Lestrade and Mrs Hudson from what's left of Moriarty's web, there are some muddled feelings for them in there too. All the current case-related stuff would be here. His apparent 'suicide' would have very shallow reasons at this level - beating Moriarty at his own game, winning, etc. They aren't the real reasons, though.
He tries to pretend he doesn't have feelings, but the reality is he is often completely overwhelmed with his own emotions and doesn't know how to deal with them save lashing out.
In the Middle and down deep: He pretends he doesn't care about people, but there is a wealth of concern and care and worry right under the surface. It's narrowed down to focus on a very small group of people - John, Lestrade, Mrs Hudson, Molly (and yes, even a little, a very little, for Mycroft.) The real reasons for his 'suicide' are here. Because he could have beaten Moriarty without 'dying', could have taken him into the police - but he would have lost the only people in the world that cared about him, and that he cared deeply about. He still didn't want to actually die, but given that he's had to give up everything in order to protect them (not just their friendship, but also his work, his name, his reputation - which to someone as arrogant as he is, is a massive blow), he may as well have.
There is a lot about John at a deep level. John is the closest person to him in the world, whether Sherlock admits it or not, and Sherlock would do (as we've seen) almost anything to protect him - even as he snaps at him and experiments on him and chases away all his girlfriends. There are a lot of happy memories - a lot of smiles and giggling on crime scenes - but there are also a lot of tense ones. Arguments. That moment, as Sherlock had to pretend not to care about Mrs Hudson being shot (she never was, he just needed to get John away from him before he committed 'suicide'), when John called him a 'machine'. A moment, standing on the roof, looking down, watching John reach out for him, beg him not to.
At the very beginning, a moment, when a gunshot suddenly killed a serial killer right in front of him, and then a moment an hour later when he realised it had been John who had saved him.
Deeper, John has saved more of him than simply his life. In soul terms, without John, Sherlock would probably have become something much worse. And at the very deepest, there is a deep, ingrained fear that Sherlock himself could have turned into someone like Moriarty - and that terrifies him.
I HOPE ANY OF THIS MAKES SENSE you can ask me to clarify/expand if you need me to
Does your character have any powers or devices which might muddy the waters further/prevent Gabriel from seeing much at all? Noooope.
no subject
Are you comfortable with Gabriel seeing your character's soul? Yup perfectly fine.
What extremely important memories/aspects of personality/powers might he see? Surface: Snippy, Arrogant. Thinking almost always about work. HOWEVER since at that moment thinking about work involves wrapping up any danger left for John, Lestrade and Mrs Hudson from what's left of Moriarty's web, there are some muddled feelings for them in there too. All the current case-related stuff would be here. His apparent 'suicide' would have very shallow reasons at this level - beating Moriarty at his own game, winning, etc. They aren't the real reasons, though.
He tries to pretend he doesn't have feelings, but the reality is he is often completely overwhelmed with his own emotions and doesn't know how to deal with them save lashing out.
In the Middle and down deep: He pretends he doesn't care about people, but there is a wealth of concern and care and worry right under the surface. It's narrowed down to focus on a very small group of people - John, Lestrade, Mrs Hudson, Molly (and yes, even a little, a very little, for Mycroft.) The real reasons for his 'suicide' are here. Because he could have beaten Moriarty without 'dying', could have taken him into the police - but he would have lost the only people in the world that cared about him, and that he cared deeply about. He still didn't want to actually die, but given that he's had to give up everything in order to protect them (not just their friendship, but also his work, his name, his reputation - which to someone as arrogant as he is, is a massive blow), he may as well have.
There is a lot about John at a deep level. John is the closest person to him in the world, whether Sherlock admits it or not, and Sherlock would do (as we've seen) almost anything to protect him - even as he snaps at him and experiments on him and chases away all his girlfriends. There are a lot of happy memories - a lot of smiles and giggling on crime scenes - but there are also a lot of tense ones. Arguments. That moment, as Sherlock had to pretend not to care about Mrs Hudson being shot (she never was, he just needed to get John away from him before he committed 'suicide'), when John called him a 'machine'. A moment, standing on the roof, looking down, watching John reach out for him, beg him not to.
At the very beginning, a moment, when a gunshot suddenly killed a serial killer right in front of him, and then a moment an hour later when he realised it had been John who had saved him.
Deeper, John has saved more of him than simply his life. In soul terms, without John, Sherlock would probably have become something much worse. And at the very deepest, there is a deep, ingrained fear that Sherlock himself could have turned into someone like Moriarty - and that terrifies him.
I HOPE ANY OF THIS MAKES SENSE you can ask me to clarify/expand if you need me to
Does your character have any powers or devices which might muddy the waters further/prevent Gabriel from seeing much at all? Noooope.
Anything else? [Anything else? Update?]