Skeleton Sheet
Audit:
There are some people in this world who are simply cursed from the day they're born. Louis Hayes is just one of them. He made the mistake of being born to a family who, long, long ago made a deal with... honestly, he doesn't even know, his family had long forgotten it before he was even a thought in his father's head, but it's safe to say, whatever it was was not to be trifled with. Even more unfortunately, his great great great great great something or other thought they could get one over on a being that lives on a plane of existence we can't conceive of. Stupid, right? Well, that's just how things are sometimes in this world. His ancestor pissed the thing off so much, it didn't just curse or kill them, it cursed every single member of the family from then on. "Marked" is an appropriate word, though perhaps not used in the same sense of the nine for this story. Louis, and every member of his family before him have a way of attracting non-human things, whether their intentions be good or bad. He calls it the "stink". He simply can't hide from the supernatural for long.
Thankfully, that's where Pirn comes in. Louis has discovered the same kinds of protections that are offered to the unveiled have assisted him in living a more normal life, and considering the life he lead before, living in Pirn is an easy price to pay. For one forced to be a watcher due to his circumstances, all Louis wants is a normal life, and in Pirn he has at least some semblance of that. He rents an apartment (and has for the past 5 years) works at a warehouse, and mostly doesn't have to worry about otherworldly entities tracking him down. As long as he keeps his head down, things are better than they were elsewhere, constantly running from and fighting new threats.
As for Louis himself, he's 26 and lives alone, mostly due to that tricky curse being so effective that he has no living family left. He's a tall, thin man with shoulder-length black hair with white strands here and there that he'll swear to you he didn't highlight, and heterochromatic blue and brown eyes. Aside from the piercings and bars in his ears, his fashion mostly consists of old or confusing band shirts that are too large, worn jeans, and whatever else he finds comfortable. He doesn't put all that much effort into looking stylish, and is very down to earth. The man doesn't aspire for much more than a peaceful life, and enjoys the little things in life like quiet moments spent reading or enjoying a view, good meals, and having a stable roof over his head. He tries hard not to step on the toes of those around him, and helps wherever he can. The one thing he dislikes most is getting involved in supernatural shenanigans. Despite his otherwise kind nature, he's often distrustful of non-humans, and would prefer to not get involved with them wherever possible.
Racial Questions:
Blessed/Cursed line of Watchers?
Cursed, without question. Surely the Hayes had a different name long long ago, and maybe it would be possible to find out what supernatural being his family tried to screw over and figure out a way out of the curse, but if this many generations have tried and utterly failed, he'd rather hide in Pirn. He knows only two things about this curse, one, that he and his family are doomed to be caught by all sorts of supernatural beings, and two, they're doomed never to rest in peace... neither of those things thrill Louis.
Powerset?
One foot in the grave, and a chain of souls
Louis is very attuned to seeing the truth, whether he likes it or not. Louis was the lucky one of two twins, or, at least that was the explanation his parents gave him for why there's a second soul bound to him. Supposedly, the spirit is his brother and it's fraternal traits manifested in him somewhat, with the heterochromia and odd highlights of white hair here and there. Obviously, as the spirit was never even born, it doesn't really have any consciousness to speak of, and is effectively the same person as Louis. Still, He believes this spirit is what grants him the sight that others don't have. Even in a place like Pirn, Louis can easily discern the supernatural from the normal as clear as day. Things that normal humans can't see, he has to try to ignore if he wishes to live normally. His senses are stronger when it comes to the undead or departed, but he can still discern other unveiled at a glance, typically. This also extends to a weak "sixth sense" which can let him know if there are such beings nearby, but isn't foolproof.
One "blessing" to the curse given to his family is that since they were doomed to never rest in peace, the family is still all connected somehow, even long after their deaths. Partly because of the curse, but also partly because of strong magic casted ages ago, probably shortly after his family was cursed. Whether they got help from another supernatural entity, or were simply that strong during that age is a matter of contention, but the fact still remains that they were bound together, even after death. They don't just follow Louis around like a legion of lost souls, instead being bound to the family sword. The one surviving artifact from the miserable history of his lineage. However, since Louis doesn't really know any magic, especially not of the soul-working variety, he can't use it to it's full ability like his ancestors might have been able to. If he were able, the things he could do with a legion of willing spirits on his side would be frightening, but for now, all has is something that looks like a prop from a Lord of The Rings movie, and is a pretty effective weapon against the supernatural.
What makes your character powerful enough to stand beside a fully unveiled character?
For all intents and purposes, Louis would be an ordinary human, certainly not as strong or fast as some unveiled, and incapable of casting magics against them, but you don't survive this long being hunted by the supernatural without being able to hold your own. Despite having lived mostly in peace in Pirn the past five years, his senses and reflexes are still sharp. His whole life pre-Pirn was an exercise in survival, moving from place to place, fighting off supernatural beings that wished him or his family harm, or running when he could not. Nobody is perfect, and he has a set of dead parents and plenty of scars to show for his experiences, but yet he still lives despite it all.
In combat, Louis prefers to use the Family Sword, as it is an all-purpose remedy to things supernatural. It may be an unorthodox weapon in an age of guns, but it has served him well so far, and he is surprisingly deft with it despite appearances. When the sword fails, he is well-studied enough to know what other methods are effective against his adversaries, and if that fails, well, he can pull out his trump card. A secret technique handed down the Hayes family line for generations, and has mostly worked out okay for him... That technique is called "Running for your life".
Prompts:
Your character encounters a spirit looking lost and angry; how does your character react?
Another day another ghost. Louis sees this sort of thing all the time, but has apparently done a poor job of pretending not to stare at the obviously departed spirit, and has drawn it's attention. From the moment their eyes meet, Louis knows that this whole thing is going to be a hassle. The old man makes his way over to Louis as he sits at the diner, trying to eat in peace. The spirit takes a seat across from him in the booth as he sips his shake, and Louis sighs heavily, closing his eyes. Perhaps if he says nothing, the damn thing will float off and bother someone else. But the fact that it's staring at him rather intently as he finishes his drink tells him that will not be the case.
"So how long are ya gonna pretend I'm not here, boy? Don't play dumb.", the ghost finally says.
Louis's brow twitches in irritation, and he finally gives in. "Ugh, you see a guy just sitting here, minding his own business, enjoying a nice peanut butter shake, and you decide to come bother him? Rude. Well, fine. Spit it out, I can see you but that doesn't make me psychic, what is it that you want, huh?", he asks, huffing as he uses the straw to mix up the bits at the bottom of the shake so that he can get every bit of his money's worth of the dessert.
"They got my order messed up. I want my money back."
The straw stops swirling the whipped cream, ice cream, and chocolate sauce together, and he stares at the ghost with the most "are you joking me?" face he can muster. "You're serious?!", he almost blurted those words aloud to the whole diner, before laughing. "That... That's got to be the dumbest reason I've ever heard for staying on this side, you know. And what am I supposed to do when I get that money, huh? You're dead, it's not like you're going to be able to use it.", he reasoned.
"Don't you understand? It's the principal of the matter!", the old man spat, looking outraged that Louis found it funny that THIS was his unresolved conflict. "I don't care what you do with the money, you can keep it, but I want to stick it to this place for killing me.", he grumbled.
The pieces were coming together, he was so angry over this he probably had a heart attack that he didn't recover from. From the looks of him, his clothes were modern... that ugly red hat was definitely less than a couple years old... in a town like this he probably wouldn't wander around long before being found by someone like Louis, so chances were that he was just unlucky enough to have been the first watcher to encounter him since his untimely demise. This was a diner that got decent business too, so he couldn't have died more than a couple days ago...
"Okay, fine. How long have you been here? Who are you? If you tell me you threw away the receipt, we're done here.", Louis tells the old man, before taking the last sip of his shake.
"No, no, I always keep the receipts in my wallet. I think I've been here a day... my name's John Shoemaker. So, you'll help?", the ghost asked.
Louis sighed. "I guess that's a start. I'm feeling generous today, so that meal better have been like, twenty dollars at least, okay? If you died over a screwed up shake and nothing else or something stupid like that, I'm gonna be pissed.", the watcher warned before getting up and paying his bill. And that, ladies and gentleman, is how he spent the night breaking into the hospital morgue to recover a receipt for 13.22 over a burger that had onions on it when it was requested they not be added. Louis was not pleased.
