Wren Torres's Questionnaire

Well, currently I live in Chicago, Illinois. I'm attending Northwestern University to study journalism and live on campus. Originally, I'm from a rural town in Indiana where I was just so misunderstood. Coming to Chicago has been the best thing for me! Northwestern is a beautiful campus. I get annoyed by the frat boys and sorority girls, but there's so much more diversity here than my hometown. On days when it's really nice, I take an electric scooter over to the shores of Lake Michigan and just enjoy the view. The snow is a lot here, though, and the roads SUCK. I can't wait until I turn 21 so that I can enjoy the night life and go to all of the drag shows.

Money is not always easy to come by these days. I'm a broke college student who is already putting myself into debt to attend university, however I got a lot of scholarships and grants so that is useful. As for my spending money, I'm working at the service desk of Northwestern's main library, which is so creatively named "University Library". It doesn't pay much but it's a nice quiet job that allows me to work on my homework or daydream most of the time. As for what I spend it on...not much. I try to thrift most of my clothes because I like the aesthetic and it saves money. I do splurge a bit when it comes to my makeup and hair - that shit is expensive. Also, I'm developing quite the squishmallow collection, but I'm running out of space on my dorm bed so I've put that bit on pause. The rest of the adult stuff (food, housing, etc.) is covered by my tuition.

Being from a small town, I never realized how hurtful and closed minded my opinions were towards the supernatural. The people from my hometown are very conservative and see anything supernatural as bad. I won't deny that there are some bad supernatural beasties out there, but I know that not all of them are. I especially learned that in college. My journalism classes really opened my eyes to how negatively human media portrays the supernatural. I want to change that, but not just from a journalism standpoint. My ultimate dream is to create a place where supernatural creatures can live in peace, without annoying humans judging them or hunting them. As far as where that is, I don't know. Maybe it will be on a deserted island. I think it would be awesome to have a designated planet! I knew that to truly understand the supernatural and achieve my ambition, I had to go out and become one. There's only so much that media and books can teach you! Plus, I don't want to be the odd one out in my supernatural utopia.

So far, it's been going to college. Since I got to middle school, I had been dreaming of the day where I would get to leave my hometown. I wanted to go to a big university in a major US city, but my family didn't have a lot of money. I'm the oldest of three and my siblings are nine and eleven years younger than me. My parents could barely afford to take us out to a movie, let alone pay for my college. So I worked really hard in school and had a full time job to save up and get a nice scholarship. It's the proudest I've ever been of myself. My parents were pretty proud too! Coming to college and studying journalism has really opened my eyes to the major social issues of our days and has given me not only a great appreciation for my priviledge but also a deep desire to make my world better...or create a new one.

I guess I'll start with my roommate, Hannah. We're not best friends or anything, but we make great roommates. I met her during my freshman year when we were randomly assigned as roommates for our first semester. I was a bit nervous because of how different we seemed on the outside. She's a very normal looking nursing major with a wardrobe filled with mostly neutral clothes and well...look at me. I think Hannah's mom was scared for her daughter's safety when she saw me unpacking my chunky boots and jewelry. It turns out, though, that we actually get along pretty well. We're different for sure but we both have similar values and living styles, so it works out just fine.

The next person I'll talk about is my ex boyfriend, Alex. We started dating sophomore year of high school and let's just say that no one was surprised. I was just coming into my true alt baddie form and he was the established goth of the senior class. Us as a couple just made sense and we did have a lot of fun together. We dated until after my first semester of college. He just...had no ambition for his life. He wasn't a bad guy by any means, but he was perfectly content with staying in our small town and working at Subway for the rest of his life. I started discovering my dreams and while on the outside he was supportive, I could tell that he was not keen on taking the journey with me. I broke up with him during Christmas break and while it was sad, we both agreed it was the best thing for both of us.

The last person I'll talk about is my best friend, Arya. She is SO COOL. I met here the first week of my freshman year and we instantly clicked. She's also an alt baddie, but more of the "skirts and stockings" kind while I'm more of the "skater girl" vibes. We get dinner at least twice a week and sometimes we walk to class together. She's just a beautiful person inside and out and is just....amazing. I've been feeling weird feelings for her lately...like what I felt when I was falling in love with Alex. I just look at her and want to treat her like the queen she is forever...maybe I'm bi?

My childhood was...average. I was an only child for the first few years of my life and that was pretty fun. My mom was a bit uptight but otherwise great. My dad is the kindest man I ever met but was gone a lot working at the local steel mill. I watch his job take a toll on him when he got older. Then my parents had a couple "accident" babies and well, things changed a bit. The finances got tighter and my parents argued more. I grew up fast so that I could help my mom with my younger siblings. I also struggled with being overlooked because my siblings needed so much attention. It was tough for awhile, but my dad got a promotion and things got better. I'm not upset about having to help my parents with my siblings, but sometimes I wish I had more time to just be a kid. Still, I love my siblings and I'm glad they exist.

School was...fine. When I was younger I hadn't found my style yet, so I blended in a lot more. I wasn't popular by any means but I wasn't really bullied either. Once I started dressing like I do now, however, some of the girls in my grade started making stupid comments. They stopped, though, when I was unbothered and had great and embarrassing comebacks. Plus, I was decently nice to the people who would talk to me, so I was pretty much left alone. My core group of friends were Alex and the members of the debate team. We were pretty good and even got 3rd at regionals my senior year!

I was in love with my ex boyfriend Alex. We dated for over 3 years and for most of it, things were pretty good. He was two years older than me and would pick me up from school in the morning. He would always bring me coffee and we would sit in his Accord and listen to music before school. We also played video games together. For a long time, I thought we were going to end up married but I just couldn't stay in our hometown forever. There are some nights I miss him, but we just grew apart.

I may be falling in love with my best friend Arya, but I don't know. I just want to be around her all the time and sometimes when we're laying on her bed I just want to kiss her...ugh, I don't need this right now. Maybe the Contract will help me realize what I'm actually feeling.

To be honest, I try not to dwell too much on my worst fears if I can help it. Sometimes when I'm stressed and try to sleep at night, however, these anxieties come into my mind. Like most humans, I'm definitely afraid of dying, but not because I fear death necessarily. There's just so much left that I want to do; people I want to help, places I want to see, goals I want to achieve. I would hate for my life to be cut short before I got to do all of the things I want to do. I would say that is my biggest fear.

My second biggest fear is losing the people close to me before I'm ready to lose them. With my ex it was different because we were already growing apart, but to lose someone or a relationship unexpectedly? That's always difficult. I would be very hurt if Arya decided to not be friends with me anymore or worse...but I try not to think about that. Now that I'm doing this supernatural stuff, I have to be extra careful not only to guard my life, but keep those close to be out of danger.

Well, I'm a college kid so I don't really have much in terms of valuable items. I guess I would say my daggers. I have four daggers that I take with me on contracts, three of them are just basic throwing knives - nothing special. I'm not really too attached to them, but they definitely are of value in terms of protecting my life. My other dagger though is special. It's an old family heirloom and is made for close fighting. It comes from my dad's side of the family, from his grandmother. She was a nurse in WWII and bought it to keep her safe. When I moved into college, my dad handed it to me on the way out, when no one else was looking. When I asked him why he was giving me this special dagger, he said that I need to protect myself just like his grandmother did. No matter what powers I get, I'll always keep it close to me.

With this contract stuff? Definitely balancing my time. Before starting this business, I was already busy with working and classes. Now trying to find time to complete these contracts and complete my assignments is difficult. I don't plan on failing in my quest to become a divine avatar, but I'd like to finish my degree to have a back up plan. Not only that, but journalism is my first love and it will be good to have at least a newspaper in my future utopia!

Besides balancing my time, I think my second biggest problem is having patience with myself. I know that becoming a divine avatar will take time, probably years, but I get so angry thinking about people being mistreated that I just want to be super powerful now. I'm just ready to get started on my goals in ways that doesn't involve improving myself or info gathering. I know, however, that I'll get there soon enough...or die trying.

My morning routine has changed immensely since becoming a contractor. I'm in college, and while I've never been one to enjoy house parties, I do enjoy staying up late with my friends. Even when I'm not up super late, I love sleeping in, but I've realized that in order to better myself as a contractor and improve my chances of not dying, I need to train. This involves working out and training with my knives. Working out isn't too difficult, as there's multiple times in the day to go to the rec center. I mentioned before that I sometimes join my roommate for a morning workout. But practicing with my knives? That's tough, mainly because I don't want anyone to see me training with them. So on some days when my roommate goes for her morning workout, I "sleep in". I wait until she leaves and then quickly get up and pull out my thick corkboard, hang it on the wall, and practice with my throwing daggers. After that, I do some training with my melee dagger. So in short, most mornings are spent training in one way or another, with the occasional late morning rest day.