Name: Wander Oudini
Wander -> "To roam" (also 'wand' haha)
Oudini -> Taken from Harry Houdini, famous illusionist and escape artist
Blood colour: #862300
Gender: She/her
Symbol: A wand!
Profile: Wander was born into the rebellion, surrounded by a tight-knit community where everyone becomes a familiar face after a while. A set-up like that feels supportive yet daunting. Even if her blood color does not matter much, Wander feels pressure in social situations based on what she knows of the hemospectrum and her doubts regarding how interesting she is as a person. She is safe to be herself, but she’s not sure that others will like her anyway. Unsurprisingly, then, Wander is wary around new trolls. Although the Initiative promotes equality, Wander is still aware of the blood dynamics Outside. On the Outside, she believes trolls will judge her before she has an opportunity to demonstrate anything besides her blood color. Because of that, she is wary of all trolls outside of the swamp. Sometimes she needs to leave her home, since the swamp only has so much and she does have the privilege of an unassuming identity, but she rationalizes that the Outside is a scary place if she isn’t careful at all times. The hemospectrum, as a concept, is unfair to her, and hates the idea that the majority of trolls live in a society where if they weren’t born with the ‘right’ blood color, they’re open game for abuse. It especially terrifies her that she’s one of those trolls, and can’t imagine how she would have managed if she was born Outside.
Even within the swamp, Wander has a hard time expressing herself. She does not assume anyone she may meet harbors any ill-will; all of her nerves are concentrated on her own being. Wander doesn’t like herself much, and it shows in her awkward demeanor and clothing clearly centered on a specific aspiration versus personal style. Wander is not even sure that talking too deeply about her many interests will endear her to others. Part of this is because her lusus, while loving, sometimes quips about how deeply Wander is into her hobbies, and making jokes out of the few things that doesn’t fill Wander with doubt makes her feel bad.
Because of her doubts and lack of self-assurance, Wander is socially anxious. When going beyond the swamp, having Abby on her shoulders makes her feel a little better, but having the lusus around is a double-edged sword when socializing as well.
Abby pushes her to be more outgoing, but it’s difficult. Wander thinks lusii always see the best in their kids, or are supposed to, and no one else is obligated to be that way. And even though Abby supports Wander’s interests, she still makes fun of them, so Wander deals with conflicting signals.
Even though new people scare her, she isn’t a misanthrope. She is fine enough to work with others if need be. Living in a swamp, that’s a part of life, and she loathes the idea of being useless. She wants to please, but has a hard time getting up the nerve to get anywhere with her ambitions at the moment.
When she gets to know others, though, she continues to be stutter-y and a little reserved, but it becomes clear that there is someone desperate to love life underneath all her issues. In the right environments, she does love to converse, even though she can be slow at it and has to be coaxed into it. This can be seen with her lusus sometimes, though a lot of that stems from worrying that she might be laughed at.
As implied by her outfit, Wander loves magic. Lowbloods could use their powers for similar effect, sure, but she adores the idea of using practical means to awe people. You don’t have to have anything “special” about you to pull it off. There’s so much prestige on the surface, and the complicated methods to pulling the bigger tricks off are so impressive. Wander wishes to make a career out of being a magician herself, proving that you can be amazing no matter who you are or where you come from. She wants to impress people, maybe even inspire them, and be looked up to instead of feeling like a wreck.
She has the fortune of having her own power, too, which can add effect to the performance. Wander appreciates the mechanics of manually making things ‘teleport’ and ‘float’, among others, and is glad that her powers have nothing to do with magic tricks themselves. Instead, she can create small bursts of fireworks, which add to the presentation. A good show not only has magic, but pulls it off with style!
Wander also has a fidgeting habit where sometimes she will snap her fingers and making small fireworks pop, kind of like spinning the wheel on a lighter. She usually isn’t aware of this when she does it, though.
In an unsurprising turn, Wander spends a lot of time watching TV magicians. She hates missing shows, and will rush to catch the latest one if she has to. Wander has opinions on good magicians versus bad ones, between personality and presentation. She likes traditional stage magic, but she thinks escape artists are their own kind of hardcore, though they can stress her out sometimes. It’s serious business, and she can talk for hours about it if comfortable enough to do so. She buys all her favorite magicians’ books, has all the tapes she can get her hands on, posters, the whole enchilada. The books are most important, since she can learn from them like a student without having to be in anyone’s presence. It’s not unusual to find Wander’s TV blaring a magician’s performance, or a documentary on the rise of one of her favorites, while she’s practicing basic tricks herself.
Her life isn’t centered all around magic, though (only mostly). Wander likes a good read sometimes, especially murder mysteries. She doesn’t think herself clever enough to figure out whodunit, but she loves the thrill of following every twist until the perp is finally revealed. The suspense reminds her of a tricky magic act, but drawn out longer, and with more personal connections with the characters. She tends to find herself sadder when fictional characters die versus unfortunate stage hands.
Strengths:
. Tireless- Even doing a card trick takes a lot of practice. Wander has gotten used to being frustrated in her efforts to get good at her dream, and understands that not everything will go smoothly the first time. Effort and patience go hand in hand. Outside of magic practice, she will also give her all to help people and projects to the best of her ability.
. Attentive- Wander minds the shows she watches, her lusus, and those around her. Past her anxiety, she really does aim to be pleasant. She does her best to show that she cares, whether it be through humoring conversation, assisting when need be, or adding to comfort. She has yet to realize that this makes her seem like more of a stereotypical lowblood.
Flaws:
. Hesitant- In social situations, especially larger groups, Wander finds herself unsure about approaching others or speaking her mind. She’s afraid of a lot of things when she tries to talk. For one, she might look like an idiot. She could also say meaningless things and bring nothing interesting to conversation. So more often than not, she chooses to stick to the sidelines and hold her thoughts inside.
. Reliant- The rebellion is all Wander has ever known, and her lusus is the only one who she knows is solidly in her corner. She needs someone with her, usually her lusus, to have the courage to go out beyond the swamp, and much the same needs physical comfort if she wants to socialize with new trolls to begin with. Often, she will need others to approach her if she’s going to get involved at all.
Weapon: Stun baton, aesthetically mimicking a wand!
Appearance: Wander is a lanky child, accentuated by her outfit's short sleeves and short pants. The clothes she usually wears mimic a magician aesthetic, showing to any who see her what she hopes to be one day. She has a gap between her two top front teeth.
Also her hair is amazing.
Home: Wander was born in the swamp, and chose one of the decaying hives as a place to spruce up and call her own. It's one of the many tree hives, within one of the many clusters. Her hive has two stories: the upper with kitchen and dining, the lower with her respiteblock, living room, and abulitionblock. All over the hive there are posters of various magicians and their acts. The general aesthetic is surprisingly art deco.
Lusus: A lemur-rabbit named "Abbotello", or "Abby" for short. She’s got the head of a rabbit and the body of a lemur! Very acrobatic. She can usually be found on Wander's shoulders, and is the perfect size to curl up in a ball for hat tricks. Abby is very affectionate with Wander. She can usually be found grooming Wander’s hair or giving her headbutts. Even so, Wander is sometimes on edge during those attentions, since Abby can be mischievous in her efforts to make Wander less antsy around other trolls. While Abby tries her best to get Wander to socialize more, Abby can be overly playful to the point of embarrassment. Her light-heartedness leads to poorly-thought cracks that sometimes make Wander feel worse about herself.
Power: Pyrotechnesis- Wander can shoot little fireballs that explode much like colorful fireworks from her hands. While pretty, it can definitely harm others and cause property damage!
In battle, it manifests as offensive style A, burning anyone who gets hit. Ouch!
