░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Detective James Brandt ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
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██████ NAME ▻ James Brandt
██████ ALIAS▻ Detective Brandt
██████ AGE ▻ Twenty-Eight
██████ GENDER ▻ Male
██████ OCCUPATION ▻ Detective in Gotham
██████ GOOD/EVIL? ▻ Good
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████ LIKES
██████ ▻ Coffee
██████ ▻ Spicy food
██████ ▻ Reading
██████ ▻ Helping others
████DISLIKES
██████ ▻ Anything too sweet
██████ ▻ Getting stuck on a case
██████ ▻ The Rampant Crime of Gotham
██████ ▻ All of the sad visions he sees in his line of work.
████PERSONALITY
██████ ▻ James often seems sorrowful. Due to his power, he sees a lot of unfortunate things. Sitting down on a bench in a park, he might see the struggle of the last homeless man to curl up on it to brave a long night, or picking up a penny on the street, he might see how it tumbled out of a woman's purse as the woman struggled to hold onto her belongings, only to have them ripped away buy the savage burglar. He tries to console himself with the fact that these things have already taken place. That he could not have known about them, and that they could not be changed. And besides, sometimes there is no telling how long ago they even happened, unless there is something tell-tale in the vision. However, James still can't help but feel horrible for some of the things he has been able to see.
██████ ▻ Despite the sadness surrounding him, James is very good at hiding his suffering with jokes or flirtatious behavior. Only those who know him very well see through this.
██████ ▻ James can be serious when the time calls for it, in the middle of solving cases or when his favorite TV show comes on.
██████ ▻ In addition to all of this, James is quite kind. Although he has hardened himself for the life of a Detective in one of the most crime-rampant cities, he would never kill unless his hand is forced, and prefers to resort to any violence only if necessary. He rarely hesitates to lend a hand, and has found himself in trouble for it more than once.
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██████ HAIR COLOUR ▻ Dark Brown
██████ EYE COLOUR ▻ Grey/Blue
██████ BODY TYPE ▻Muscular and Broad-shouldered
██████ PERMANENT MARKS ▻ James has a small scar running parallel to his spine, and another smaller scar on his chest from a case where apprehension of a criminal went wrong.
██████ COSTUME/ MAKEUP/ MASK▻Generally James wears sweaters, hoodies, or other jackets of some sort. Despite being a detective, he's not too fond of suits -- they're too restricting. His fashion sense is impeccable, however.
██████ OTHER ▻ James carries a necklace that his mother was wearing when she died. He often replays the scene in his mind, as it is all he has to remember his parents by.
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████ BACKSTORY
██████ ▻ James grew up in a foster home, his own parents having been murdered when he was small. He found out about his power in his teenage years. It frightened him at first, as he had no idea how it was happening. He thought he must be hallucinating. Going crazy. However, he kept it to himself, and soon the television networks and headlines were filled with stories of others with strange abilities and masked crusaders. He realized that perhaps he was not alone, though his own gifts were nothing like theirs. After that, he learned to live with the small windows into the past that he had been permitted to look through.
At first, as he tried to push his power and see what his limits were, it infuriated James that he could not learn all he wanted to learn about something or someone simply by picking up an object. He came to terms with it, however, realizing that it simply was not within the parameters of his skill. When he graduated high school, James went to college for forensics, and quickly discovered that detective work was where his passion was. He could use his power to help somehow, although he had to be careful with how he went about it. A few of the officers on the Gotham Force that he often works with know about his ability, but the bulk of them do not. James has to be absolutely positive about something before he brings it to them, and he has to be able to draw a reasonable explanation that does not involve his ability.
Although it pays off to be able to use his power for something good, his detective cases often take a lot out of him. He has seen more murders and other obscenities than he would care to count, simply by touching a finger to the weapon, or handling a single thread. Granted, James has seen his share of happy events through his power as well, but being a detective he more often witnesses the darker side of humanity.
████ ABILITIES
██████ ▻ Past-Sight: James can pick up an object and see into the object's past. However, this power is severely limited. He can see whose possession the object was in, but he cannot see any details about that person aside from what involves the object specifically. He can, likewise, touch a person and find out information about their past, but he can only see what they want him to see. He cannot pry deeper into things that are being purposefully locked away.
James has to be touching the object directly to see anything about it. If he is wearing gloves, or the object is in some kind of wrapping, it will not work. He also cannot learn anything about another person if he is touching them through clothing.
██████ ▻ James happens to be an excellent cook. He has always said if his Detective career had failed he likely would have become a chef instead.
██████ ▻ Another skill James is quite proud of is his ability to play the piano. Not many get the chance to hear him, as he rarely invites guests to his apartment, but nonetheless he knows he can play quite well.
