--* Your Host
Name: Wander Oudini
Wander -> "To roam" (also 'wand' haha)
Oudini -> Taken from Harry Houdini, famous illusionist and escape artist
Blood colour: #862300Gender: 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.
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