Not A Pasta Chef Dammit

Waldo Butters | Birb

1st change black claws, hollow bones, long arms, larger chest, sugar craving | October 31, 2017
2nd changeSecond Change| vulnerability to electricity, predicting weather, split tongue, talon hands and feet, down feathers, quills December 15, 2017
3rd changeThird Change | Feathers grow in completely, good eyesight, monster hunger, soothing voice January 1, 2018

4th changeFourth Change | Fog form, aggression in fog form March 1, 2018

coins current: 132 | spent: 70

Harry: Best friend who seems to have adapted to Ryslig by going full nocturnal. Roomates who don't see each other that often.

Maurice: Box buddies. He will be missed. EDIT: He's back OH NO

Rick: He hopes the man doesn't kill himself enough to forget how to engineer a way out. Stubborn, frustrating, needs help.

Marco: Squid and former priest. Helpful guy, the one to ask about computers. Lent him his shower and helped him drain a guy. Butters owes him one.

Fiddleford: Married to Marco. Do not call his virtual pets tomagotchis.

Egon: The actual Ghostbusters guy (holy shit). Scientist, wrote a book on monsters. Butters gets a stiff neck from looking up when he tries to talk to him.

Grace Nakimura: No-nonsense woman who agrees that killing people is wrong.

Tae: Works in the computer labs. Scolds a lot, a good sort probably. Seems to miss her grandson. Will be missed.

Judai: Surprisingly nice for a fog follower.

Rosch: Cool dude who let him check out his mechanical arm.

Soeki: Let him think that the animated skeletons were new arrivals for the longest time. A necromancer but a good one(!?)

Oliver: Soeki's SO. Seems okay.

Hawkeye: Pranks but actually cares about his work. Almost definitely pickled by now. If he wasn't a lich that would be a concern.

Heather: Soeki's daughter. Outspoken. Rumpled harpy bud.

Faust: Better bedside manner than Waldo. Knows what he's doing. On the other hand wears the skeleton of his fiancee and is completely irrational on the subject. Maybe that Faust?

Danny Dickens: Normal enough. Seems a bit creepy in a nonspecific way but who doesn't here? Likes eyes.

Miss Elsa: Gave him his accordion in return for being in her backup band. He's beginning to figure out she's a deluded diva not a passionate amateur. But still, she helped him.

Rin: Confirmed neutral. Plotting buddy.

Kokichi: Tiny kid who lied, took his food, tried to boss him around. Waldo will miss him.

Amanda: Fog priestess. Known by reputation only. Fully onboard with killing.

L (inden): Awkward nerd he sympathizes with. Guy manages to insult everyone but he isn't terrible. Still hasn't figured out L intentionally killed him with a faulty gun.

AM: Computer guy. Deliberately tortures people, according to his reputation.

Regulus Black: Knows a lot about magic, family disowned him.

Lust: Hot. Also, seems pretty decent when she's not an eel protecting her hoard.

Noodle: Actually liked his accordion playing. A singer herself, seems to be professional.

2d: Thinks Waldo's in league with the zombies, can't spell.

Connie: Worryingly mature 12 year old but at least she seems prepared.

Juno: Caught the lady rummaging in a dumpster.

Mr. Yang: What, even. Weird but harmless.

Fran: Waldo is sorry for doing the whole "can I plant my seeds in you" when he was a plant monster.

Name: Elly
Contact: Annys53 on plurk
Other Characters: Nope
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Waldo Butters
Age: ~40
Canon: The Dresden Files
Canon Point: Cold Days
Character Information: Waldo Butters did not have the easiest time growing up short and named Waldo. He definitely prefers "Butters". As a young man, he tried to join the army but he washed out of boot camp. The same thing happened when he tried to join the police. He then decided to go to medical school, but he found he was too scared to operate on a living person so he became a medical examiner in Chicago where he developed a fondness for polka music.

Work went well until he had to examine some burned corpses that were subtly but definitely not human. Everyone ignored him when he tried to point this out, or offered the excuse that the heat must have "melted" the bones somehow. Waldo knew this was nonsense, so he kept trying to bring this to someone's attention, going over the head of his boss and getting louder and louder about it. Eventually he found himself committed to a mental hospital for observation over three months.

When he got back, his boss didn't want him around but he couldn't just fire him because of laws about mental health. So he gave Butters all the worst jobs and the worst hours possible. Butters stubbornly stuck it out, even though the bad hours destroyed his social life. At some point, he met a detective and actual wizard, named Harry Dresden. Harry needed to consult him on a case and Butters was happy to bend the rules to help.

One October, Harry came back for more help. This time, they were attacked by some undead. Butters was kidnapped by an evil necromancer and got a good (and indelible) look at the man's soul. Harry saved his life, and later Butters managed to return the favor despite his terror. He tackled the necromancer at a crucial time and later helped bring a dinosaur back to unlife (long story).

After the Halloween crisis, he ended up friends with Harry and a pack of heroic werewolves called the Alphas. They'd play RPGs together on weekends. Occasionally, Waldo would have to patch Harry up after a misadventure. Once he got shot himself, but luckily he'd thought to wear a bulletproof vest.

Then, Harry disappeared without a trace. With the wizard gone Chicago started getting more and more dangerous. There were kidnappings and supernatural attacks by monsters called the Fomor. Waldo's friends with the help of a local mob boss founded the Chicago Alliance, or The Brighter Future Society to help protect citizens. Former police officer Karrin Murphy had been given Harry's helper spirit, Bob. She passed him on to Butters' keeping.

With the help of Bob and his own knowledge of physics, he was able to figure out some magical tricks that even a non-talented muggle could use. He couldn't do nearly as much as he would like to help his city and his friends, but he could act as a lookout. Eventually he started dating one of the alphas, named Andi. Then Harry's ghost showed up to Butters and they helped save a priest and a street kid from a cult.

But later Harry showed up alive once again and working for the fairy queen Mab. He stole Bob back, severely confusing Waldo and making him wonder about his friend's sanity and humanity.

Personality: Butters is a self-consciously nerdy Chicago medical examiner with a lot of nervous energy and a strong sense of integrity. His body language is often restless and he's easily startled. He has a wide range of skills: medicine, playing several instruments, storytelling as a DM, basic computer knowledge. He embraces science fiction, fantasy, and polka music. While he cheerfully considers himself weird, he also, much less happily, considers himself a coward.

In fact he's very prone to fear and anxiety, although he's gotten better at handling it since his first confrontation with the supernatural that led to a severe panic attack. Now, he's mostly able to keep going through his fear and to turn his worry into reasonable caution and preparedness. He is seemingly both easily terrified and attracted to dangerous situations.

Butters is able to cope with most of his fears as well as he does because he's a very determined, stubborn man. He didn't quit after washing out of the army, after all, but went right into the police academy. He's not one to easily give up, even if he temporarily fails.

That stubbornness is often used in service of what he thinks is right. No matter the pressure put on him to pretend he hadn't seen nonhuman corpses, he insisted he had. He spent an entire three months in the state mental hospital, unwilling to lie. True, he eventually did lie, but three months is a long time to be in observation.

More than being honest, he's concerned about not hurting people and not letting people around him be hurt if he can help it. He feels that knowledge brings responsibility even if it doesn't always directly bring power. This can be a weak spot. He can feel he has to help, no matter what. Once, he attempted to doctor a man who'd attacked him. He knew the man would probably try to hurt him if he got too close, but he saw pain in the man's eyes. Waldo felt guilty for breaking the man's leg and had to try to set it for him with predictable results.

Especially after Harry died, Waldo's sense of helplessness really began eating at him. He could help people sometimes, he was the information guy and lookout for the Alphas, but it wasn't enough. Being a non-fighting muggle in way over his head took a toll on his already strained nerves; he's developed a thousand yard stare that comes out under stress.

He's also become more likely to be harsh or unfairly critical of people when worried, scared, or angry. His own fears make him more likely to doubt people. His usual tendency to snark when sufficiently afraid can turn biting. He can be insensitively honest. Butters holds himself to a high standard and sometimes does the same to others as well.

In general, Butters is not the type to sit back and enjoy his own successes. Part of this is his honesty. He'd usually rather not flatter himself or believe he's better than he really is. He's not prone to emotional angst, not about his personal failures that didn't involve anyone getting hurt. However, he also tends to be self depreciating and to focus on his limitations instead of his abilities. He took his unusual intelligence for granted for a long time, despite finding medical school to be not very difficult. He easily forgets that not everyone has the same strengths he does.


5-10 Key Character Traits:
Fearful
Stubborn
Honest
Humble
Analytical
Courageous
Doubtful
Resourceful
Restless

Would you prefer a monster that FITS your character’s personality, CONFLICTS with it, EITHER or 100% RANDOMIZATION? EITHER

Opt-Outs: Simulacrum, Shade, Nymph, Lich, Werebear, Demon

Roleplay Sample: Here