Name: Nathan Bishop
AKA: (Former) Detective Bishop, Nate, The Phantom PI
Gender: Male
Age: 31
Race: Human - Spirit Host
Position: Investigator
Appearance: An african-american of relatively average physical build and only just evening out at 5’10, Nate was probably the less imposing one of the two when he and Gabe were partners in the LAPD. In line with his cop days, he’s kept his hair fairly short whilst doing the same for any facial hair that dares crop up without his consent, leaving his face nicely smooth and clean-shaven and going well with his calm, hazel eyes.
As a throwback to his detective days (and as a partial consequence of picking up some of Gabe’s mannerisms) he usually wears a shirt with matching pants and work shoes, often wearing a tie and occasionally even a coat in the process, depending on the circumstances. When he carries his S&W .38 special, he usually keeps it in a shoulder holster which, conveniently enough, also tucks neatly under his coat when it needs to.
Abilities: Nate's connection to a spirit allows him to immediately distinguish whether or not an individual or object is mundane or supernatural in nature. It’s akin to being able to see in colour in a colourblind environment, so to speak. This also gives Nate, to a certain degree, a sixth sense - allowing him to sense anything out of the ordinary in his environment.
Finally, this connection serves as a two-way street; basically, if he were to suffer a life threatening injury, whilst this won't heal him or give him a get-out-of-jail free ticket it'll certainly give his body a jumpstart and slightly tip the odds in his favour, as Gabe’s spirit helps anchor his own in this world.
Of course, there’s a certain side-effect to this connection; Nate’s occasionally picked up one or two mannerisms and ‘aspects’ off of Gabe due to their spiritual bond, to the point he’s gained fondness for things he once had nothing to do with (a newly acquired taste for scotch and tequila are examples) or, more noticeably and alarmingly, the colour of his eyes briefly changing to match Nate’s.
Backstory:Nathan 'Nate' Bishop was once an up-and-coming detective among many working for Los Angeles' finest with a career path that seemed to be headed to the top. Partnered with and mentored by one Gabriel Ward, a senior detective who saw something in the kid, the two made a fine duo, cracking cases left and right together. Yet there was one case that had for many months proved impossible to crack, despite a wealth of information - a series of ritual murders that seemed to be linked to something far more sinister in the City of Angels' seedy underbelly. Whoever, or whatever was behind it seemed.... unearthly. Something beyond the mundane world.
Gabe took a particular interest in the case due to its similarity to a similar cold case from the earliest days of his career, even going so far as to chase up his own leads outside of work in an attempt to find out what the hell was going on. It proved to be his undoing - a few days later, Nate received a phone call in the early hours of the morning - one that he promptly hung up on and took off in his car to disprove. Arriving at the scene, he found his partner dead - killed via the same disturbing, ritualistic method as all the others. Another good man dead because of this monster.
Despite being told by his superiors to let it go, Nate refused to allow the trail to go cold and spent months sifting through case files and evidence lockers, desperate for any lead even if it meant he hardly ate or slept because of it. Eventually Nate's superior ordered him on a paid suspension for several weeks to stop him from working himself to death, yet even that didn't deter him - instead he went and chased up his own leads as Gabe had, ignoring the immense risk he was taking.
Out of options, he tried visiting where they'd found Gabe's body - the scene of the last murder. It occurred to Nate that there had to be some kind of connection that he could grab onto here, if only small, yet instead of a lead he found something better. For a moment, he'd have sworn he heard a familiar voice - was he losing it? He thought so, yet the voice spoke again and he recognised who it was. He turned around to face the voice and found a familiar, albeit ethereal face. Gabe.
For a moment Nate thought he'd finally lost it, or that his lack of sleep had took a toll. He panicked and made a sharp entry yet on the way out he forgot to look before he crossed the road and wound up having a disagreement with a station wagon as it turned around the corner. Blacking out for a few minutes, when he woke up he found two people standing over him - one was obviously the driver of the station wagon, the other was Gabe. Seemingly unharmed by the encounter, he quickly dismissed the driver of the station wagon and went for a long walk - hoping to shake whatever it was off. It was only when Gabe finally spoke again and this time explained his predicament:
The grisly method of execution the killer had enacted upon him was a ritual which left his spirit bound to the crime scene. Since Nate was the only one who had such a close connection with him, Gabe was able to appear - if only for a brief moment - and would've tried to explain the circumstances had it not been for the former running off. That knock on the head he'd took from the car had almost killed him, enough to briefly separate his spirit from his body if only for a few seconds. With that window of opportunity, Gabe had jumped onboard Nate's body like a passenger in a car, jumpstarting his body up in the process and pulling the two of them into a new world.
Aside from teaching Nate that the world was nowhere near as mundane as it seemed - their ritualistic killer was just an example of what the supernatural world has to offer - Gabe’s presence had bestowed him with a number of tricks, one of which was the ability to immediately distinguish between the mundane and supernatural.
Under (literal) spiritual guidance, Nate used his newly-found perspective to track down his old partner’s killer - a vampire who restrained his victims and then used precise incisions with a ritual knife to drain their blood into a container below, using it to mark a series of symbols as some kind of tribute to an ancient deity, trapping the spirits of the dead at their respective murder scenes as a side effect of this tribute. Forced to act in urgence, Nate was forced to stake the killer in the heart with their own ritual knife.
Case cracked, Nate assumed that this meant Gabe would join the rest of the killer’s victims in finding a peace in the afterlife - yet it seems the senior of the two had other plans. Being an honest-to-god cop through and through, Gabe had left this earthly plain with plenty of unfinished business - thinking of all the unsolved cases still out there. Instead he told the kid he planned on sticking around.
From there, the two continued their partnership - albeit differently. Leaving LA and the department behind, they found themselves drawn to Pine Hollow and wound up joining the Supernatural Investigation Agency.
Other notes: - Nate drives a '72 Imperial LeBaron, again as a throwback to his LAPD days as it was the car he bought shortly after his promotion to detective.
- In addition to his S&W Model 15 he owns the snubnose variant as well for concealment and an Ithaca 37 "Stakeout" shotgun which he keeps in the trunk of his car, more out of habit than necessity.
- His exposures to the supernatural world have left him making several 'preparations' to handle certain situations. For instance, holy water and crucifixes for dealing with troublesome vampires (Even if they're just placebos, it works wonders on scaring the dumber ones into co-operating with him), a silver knife and a couple of silver .38 bullets after a particularly troublesome run-in with an angry werewolf and so on.
- He's quite the scifi fan and among other things he keeps a number of films among his video tape collection, including Terminator and Predator among others. And yes, he's a Schwarzenegger fan too.
Name: Gabriel Ward
AKA: Gabe
Gender: Male
Age: 49 (At the time of his death)
Race: Ghost
Occupation: LAPD Detective (At the time of his death)
Appearance: Whilst alive, Gabe stood at a height of 5’10 and with his stocky build he looked like he could hold his own in the rougher parts of town. His hair had prematurely started graying as a consequence of his long career, though he kept it fairly short-and-simple on his head whilst across his weathered face was a neatly trimmed beard that went well with his sharp, blue eyes. As a detective, he was seldom seen without his pale-blue shirt with the matching tie and pants, and sometimes he was even known to wear a coat when it suited him.
Now, as a ghost - he hasn’t changed that much. Rather, he’s just gained an ethereal quality to his overall appearance, coming across as somewhat translucent with a vague unearthly outline. His eyes stand out more than anything now - having taken on an even sharper quality than they had in life.
Abilities: Being a ghost with a non-corporeal form, Gabriel is capable of passing through any solid matter that doesn’t have some form of supernatural protection on it, allowing him to survey his surroundings without too much trouble - the only problem is that he’s limited in how far he can actually travel. Whilst Nate’s keeping him anchored in this world, it also means he can only move so far away from him before he’s unable to move any further - akin to trying to pass through a steel wall.
Also, being a ghost - he doesn’t particularly have the ability to exert any physical influence on individuals or objects in the real world, the only exception being those whom he has/had a strong connection with or those of a supernatural nature. Whilst we’re on this subject, it’s also worth mentioning that Gabe is only visible to Nate and those who have the ability to see ghosts, such as members of the supernatural world.
Backstory: Refer to the above.
Other notes: - Has an ex-wife and a daughter who moved to Pine Hollow shortly after he died. He still keeps tabs on them by using Nate as a proxy.
- Shares Nate's love for scifi and other cult classics. As it happens, being able to watch VHS tapes in the office is a great way of relieving the eternal boredom that can come with being dead.
