new character - foster

[witchinghours]

Foster – the Supernatural Librarian
Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?

Foster is, when he stands up straight, just under 5'10. He's not thin, but he's definitely not buff – he's got just enough stock distributed across his frame to make him tiptoe the other side of rangy. (Once he gets older though [like 50's] he's going to obtain this little pudge around his middle ehehe it will be cute)

2. How old is he?

38! Give or take a few months. And it's obvious too. He doesn't dress like a young'un, his clothes tend to make him look more early to mid-30's teacher-like.

3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?

He doesn't slouch, per se, but when he's caught off guard or surprised he tends to hunch in to protect himself. Other than that, he tends to walk with his head bowed a little. Whatever he can do to disappear.

4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?

He's just fine! He's not exactly fit – he wouldn't be able to run a mile in five minutes, probably closer to nine or ten, and he can't bench press 500lbs. He's moderately strong from having to pick up and carry books all across the library, though, and he's got good endurance. The only physical disability Foster has is that he's far-sighted and needs glasses. He's also terribly susceptible to things like the common cold and the flu, though, since his immune system has only adapted to the monster versions of illnesses, not the human versions.

5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?

He's a little bit clumsy. He keeps running into table corners and doors, and sometimes trips over nothing. Foster likes to blame this on his eyesight.

6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?

I THINK HE'S REALLY ATTRACTIVE BECAUSE FUCK YOU HE'S MY OSSAN He's not too shabby! He certainly doesn't see himself as being too attractive (growing up with monsters and being the odd one out will do that to you) but he's pretty nice for an older guy.

7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?

He would have had a nice warm honey-colored skin tone, if he'd grown up with more sunlight. As it is, he's a kind of pale honey with a clear complexion and slight scruff.

8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.

Dark brown hair! Foster has thick, slightly coarse hair that likes to wave a little at the ends when it gets too long. Because of this, he either keeps it in a low ponytail or cuts it short, when he feels like a change. He's also starting to go a little bit gray – just a strand or two at his temples. He hasn't noticed it yet.

9. What color are his eyes?

His eyes are blue :> A nice light blue.

10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?

He's got a little scruff! Almost Tony Stark-like, but not as thick and without the mustache: a dusting of facial hair along his jaw and just a little bit along the hinge of. He does have one scar, a little one, on his lip close to the left corner of his mouth, from getting punched in the face hard as a kid.

11. What are his chief tension centers?

I have no idea!! :D What's a tension center? Things that give him headaches? Well. Tiny fonts, patrons who argue with him, how dark the library gets in the evening. Things like that?

12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?

It's very bookish and old-timey teacher. He wears a lot of button down shirts, vests of the varying sweater and tweed variety, ties, and slacks. Also argyle, though that's mostly saved for his socks and two of his sweatervests. He also has one or two really dumb holiday sweaters he wears around Christmas.

13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?

They tend to be just a little baggy on him. Foster is used to hiding from the other monsters, not because he's scared of them but because they bullied him for being human; he's not bullied so much anymore but it's just a habit now to wear clothes that are a little too big for him. So lots of rolled sleeves and trailing pants hems. The only clothes that actually fit him well are his shoes, vests, and sweaters (and combinations thereof). He's comfortable, though. He likes them.

14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?

He does, usually! He's very comfortable in his clothes, so he doesn't see much of a reason to stop wearing them like he does. The biggest change from work to relax is that maybe he'll take off his vest and tie, probably put on jeans instead of slacks.

15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?

All of them. At the same time 8> lmflskjdfae no, he prefers briefs.

Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?

Foster's voice is a normal baritone, a little bit on the deep end but not anywhere close to Barry White status.

2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?

He's typically very soft-spoken, with a lot of hesitation and lilting up at the end to make it sound like he's asking a lot of questions. When he's nervous, he tends to trip over his words and stutter, which just makes him even more nervous and makes it worse.

3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?

He learned human language through books and a couple of college classes, so he's got a bit of a rough accent when he speaks it, some growling on certain syllables. His grammar isn't perfect either. He's at about the level of a fourth grader when it comes to vocabulary and eloquence. He also has a slight speech impediment when he speaks monster, since his vocal cords weren't exactly designed to speak it.

4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?

He's fluent in monster, if you look past his speech impediment! Since he grew up with it, y'know. Other than that, he speaks a stilted but still almost fluent human. (He still practices every night before bed.)

5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?

Well, he has to when he's talking to a human. D: It doesn't happen often, if at all, so he mostly just speaks in monster.

6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?

He's a terrible impromptu speaker. He can generate words when it pertains to his job, like helping people find stuff, but when he's put in the spotlight and has to speak at length about things, he much rather prefers to have a lot of time to plan out what he's going to say. Otherwise, he's likely to ramble and stumble along.

7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?

When he's had time to plan out a speech, he can be quite eloquent. Planning gives him time to glue together his frayed nerves and present a false calm front. Thankfully, he almost never has to do any public speaking, since he's just a librarian.

Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?

He's a little bit of both! When it comes to monsterland, he's both book and street smart (although more so book). When it comes to humans, though, he's only book smart, and even then only what he's read in books. He would get mugged and killed so fast. ):

2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?

He can think on his feet when it comes to his job or confrontations. Everything else needs a little more time.

3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?

He's a little bit idealistic, especially when it comes to the human world. He plans to someday live there, once he can figure out how, and has an almost naïve belief that humans will be much more accepting of him. Foster also likes to believe that even if he lives with monsters, there are some good ones! His parents, for example, and the ones who weren't jerks and actually wanted to be his friend. He hasn't let the jerks in the monster world beat him down at all.

4. What kind of education has the character had?

He's gone through all his forms in monster school! It's not a typical education though. There are the basics, like grammar and math. However, it's all monster grammar (math is evil anywhere, so it's the same as human math). There were physical education and sex ed classes, but since he's not a monster, he was excused from the latter. No one was really sure how to teach him the proper uses of his equipment, so he just wasn't taught. :'D He even went through monster college and got (the equivalent to) a master's in Library Science. Fucking nerd.

5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?

He's the reigning expert in human and librarianism! He'd like to learn even more about humans though, if he can.

6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?

More of an introvert. He doesn't like calling attention to himself, since whenever he did that as a kid in school, it'd summon the bullies to come beat him up ;__; Nothing makes him happier than a quiet night at home with his dog.

7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?

He's very even-tempered and cheerful! He lives by "service with a smile" and does his best every day to perform as such during his work. There's almost always a bounce in his step and a smile on his face, even when he isn't feeling it; he grew up as a people-pleaser to get rid of the bullies and do his best for his parents, and he hasn't grown out of it.

8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?

He responds kind of badly ahahaaa. It makes him really nervous and jittery, but he'll still try his best to keep smiling!! Not quite panic attacks, but he's really unsure and timid and easily spooked when it happens. That's not to say he's not open to change though, it just takes him a while to get used to it.

9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?

React, mostly. He never really stuck up for himself when he was younger and prefers to just let things happen as they do, when it concerns him. It used to be, when he was younger, that he wouldn't put up a fight and just wait for the bullies to stop picking on him. Now that he's a bit older, he has fewer qualms about stepping in to help someone else, though usually it's only if he sees that they can't help themselves. (This almost always goes badly, though: everyone knows about the human, and so they don't really respect him. If he did jump in to help someone, they'd probably just beat him up a little bit instead.)

10. Which is his default: fight or flight?

His default is flight, but if that isn't an option then he'll try to fight and usually fail within five minutes. Cue the protecting of vital bits. GOD HE'S SUCH A WEENIE.

11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?

He likes jokes, yes! But they're usually really bad ones. He's not a fan of bathroom humor or offensive things; no dead baby jokes for him, sorry. Just…really bad puns and silly riddles. Especially riddles.

12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?

Not really, no. I mean, he's got low self-esteem, but that's about it. He doesn't dwell on getting bullied as a kid, and he's not depressed or anything about being adopted. He's curious, yes, but no lasting anger or resentment.

13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?

shit. Uh. I haven't the foggiest. The first time he got bullied when he was young, a day where his parents brought home a golden retriever puppy to eat for dinner and actually let him keep it instead, the first time he set foot inside the library, the first time he learned that there were other humans and that he wasn't an aberration?

14. What does he fear?

His biggest fear is that he'll never make it back to humanland. He knows that the monsters do it when they go scare and eat people, but no one will show him how or bring him with them.

15. What are his hopes or aspirations?

Foster hopes to someday find people who will accept him, rather than tolerate him. Just because he's nearly 40 doesn't mean it won't happen yet. His long term goal is to get to humanland and eke out his own little living space there (although he's beginning to see this as a fever dream that won't actually happen, he just keeps telling himself that it will because it keeps him going). He's already become a librarian, all he needs now is other humans to share it with.

16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?

YES. He doesn't want anyone to know that the holiday sweaters were made by him. He knits. It's really cute.

Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents.

Oddly enough, his relationship with them is good! Or was good. They couldn't have kids, so when they found a human child, they decided to take what they could get and cared for him just like they would have with a monster child. He loved them, and they loved him, and so it broke his little human heart the day his mother never came back from the human world. His father contracted some kind of human disease while looking for her and died soon after. (It was pneumonia.)

2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?

No siblings! Foster is the only one they adopted, and since they couldn't have children he remained their only child.

3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?

No siblings (that he knows of). Monsters don't like humans. Anyone his parents might have been related to disowned them the day they insisted on keeping and raising him.

4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?

Well, there's his dog! He learned how to take care of him from books. The dog's name can't be pronounced with human words, so a good translation of it is Bear. Foster and Bear love each other very much and have been together forever. Foster also counts the old librarian as an uncle of sorts; Cthulhu took care of him and hid him whenever he escaped into the library, and taught him everything he knew before hiring him on. He's retired now, but Foster still visits him at least once a week to take care of him in his old age.

5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?

TBA.

6. Does he have other close friends?

TBA, but not likely.

7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?

He'd like to make friends easily! He really is very slightly desperate for people who like him for him, instead of tricking him or outright hating him. As a result, Foster gets nervous and happy and fumbly when someone new approaches him kindly.

8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?

Neither is more important. He's got a limited number of both, so he treasures them both equally. His family is also his friend, and his friends are family.

9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?

Single! He's never been married or anything. A few have had crushes on him, but never said anything for fear of joining him in outcast status for it.

10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?

Nope. No spouses, no romantic relationships.

11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?

Hmm. TBA. Trying to decide if I want him to have had a crush on a monster.

12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?

TBA.

13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?

>8( He has no children of any kind!! But if he had the chance, he would have liked some. Now, he thinks it might be too late.

14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?

Not so much, not anymore. He used to be the main target of bullying back when he was in school (all grades), but now that he's grown and his bullies are grown, they don't really care anymore. There are only a couple who like to drop in to the library from time to time to make his life difficult and give him more work to do.

15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?

He's bi, although he doesn't realize it! He'd fall to about a 4 or a 5 on the Kinsey scale.

16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?

Well, considering that the monsters avoided him and he tried to avoid them, he doesn't know anything about it. It's not important to him at all. He's read about it in books, but it just seems foreign and strange to him. He's okay with jerking it though; he doesn't really see it as necessary to his survival, but it can be nice every once in a while.

17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?

Well. If he knew what they were, he'd have a thing for dominant people. Especially dominant people being loving and gentle. (Yessss he'd like being topped by a lady so what.) Snuggles and kisses are totally his thing. He doesn't like being hurt, so anything like that would be out of the question. And weird bedroom habits. Uh. Probably not?

Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?

I do not know it! I'll have to figure one out for him.

2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?

Neither. The monsters have their own religions and junk, but he figured it probably didn't apply to him, just like everything else. So he's ambivalent, and probably still wouldn't care if he learned about human religions.

3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?

He does! Ever since he learned he was different from everyone else and they made him feel like crap for it. Foster has resolved never to judge anyone and to do the best by them that he can, so as not to make anyone else feel as crappy as he did. The only thing that would make him compromise his beliefs would be threats to Bear or the guarantee of Bear and he making it to humanland.

4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?

As long as they don't involve hurting people, Foster doesn't care about others' beliefs. He's grown up with the monsters and their beliefs, so he's indifferent to those. He'd be curious about human beliefs, though he probably wouldn't follow any of them.

5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?

He tries not to have any prejudices, but deep in his heart of hearts he has a bias against boulder monsters. He got punched in the stomach by one back when he started middle school: it made him vomit and lose consciousness. Now he gets scared and unintentionally brusque with them whenever one comes into the library.

Foster also likes to check out awkward porn and weird materials on his old bullies' accounts and then let them build fines, as a short form of revenge for their being mean to him. He doesn't do it so much anymore now that they've all mostly gotten over it, but when he needs a pick me up he'll do it.

Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?

He's neither rich nor poor. He doesn't have to provide for anyone else, so he lives pretty comfortably with what he's got.

2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?

His social status used to be pariah, and his parents were shunned for it too. They all did the best they could though, and after a decade of being there and the rest of the population seeing that they weren't going to leave, they were upgraded to being tolerated instead of outright ignored. It was a good thing: instead of growing up embittered and mean, Foster learned that people (and monsters) can change, and not to blame them for being scared.

3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?

Foster has a little townhouse that he shares with Bear. It's got a living/dining area and kitchen on the first floor, and one bedroom with an adjacent bathroom on the second. There's also a small space that was supposed to be a storage closet, but he's turned it into his little reading nook. It's definitely his home, and he keeps it as nice as he can.

4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?

He spends a lot of his earnings on new books, and anything he can find on the night markets that was picked up from humanland. So far, he's collected various shoes, a cell phone, a set of silverware, various pieces of jewelry, and (somehow) a set of women's underwear. He stores them all in his closet as a sort of reminder for what he's aiming toward.

5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?

Foster is a librarian for a living! He loves it. He can help people find books, which have been a great refuge for him over the years, and gets to work in relative peace and quiet.

6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?

His interests revolve mostly around humanland, but he likes to learn about anything he can get his hands on. His hobbies include learning human, playing with Bear, knitting, and reading.

7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?

Foster tends to eat like a bird. He's never really liked the monster diet even though he's used to it, so when he can find all the ingredients for a recipe in one of his human books, he'll make as much as he can and eat it sparingly until he can get the ingredients for a new one. Monster diet mostly consists of humans. He doesn't want to do that. )8 His first experience with alcohol was a bad one, so he doesn't drink. Granted, it was monster booze, so who knows if he might like human booze?

Associations
Which of the following do you associate with the character, or which is his favorite:

1. Color? Blue.
2. Smell? New books.
3. Time of day? Early evening.
4. Season? Winter/early spring.
5. Book? Anything about humans.
6. Music? He'd probably enjoy jazz or classical, if he heard it.
7. Place? Dark spaces, like his library.
8. Substance? Uh. Sugar.
9. Plant? Trees! Willow trees. He's seen them in books and thinks they're beautiful.
10. Animal? Dogs!

END
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