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Robert Blake is an ex-soldier who hasn't been seen much in over a decade, briefly surfacing at odd times and places.
Wanderer, more often referred to as Viator, is a large and surprisingly tame-seeming tiger that often is found at the Wakandan Embassy and in the company of the Wakandan Ambassador stationed in New York (Adelah Abeni). Whether he is her pet or the Wakandan mascot is not entirely clear, but the tiger has also been seen in Wakanda by those who have been to the often 'no-go' nation. The country has War Rhinos so is a tiger really so odd? He was also briefly on loan to the Bronx Zoo. He seems to live almost exclusively on a diet of hot dogs if he can help it.
Background
His name was Robert Drake, although his buddies called him Viator. It was a play on a pun - a viator. Aviator. Since he was a pilot in the war. And that's really where Viator's story began. Viator was born back in 1940, although he doesn't really talk about his childhood, or pretty much anything before Vietnam, since that's when the change happened. Since he was young, he had noticed that he healed from injuries a lot faster than others. Robert was a mutant. Not a particularly powerful one - just some minor healing factor - but a mutant nevertheless. He joined the military in the mid-1960s, and by 1967, he was a chopper pilot in 'nam. And that's when 'the change' happened.
Viator's chopper had been shot down and he crashed in the jungle, his entire squadron that he had been ferrying out of an active warzone died in the crash. Viator should have died too - his healing factor was useful, but not for the level of injury he had sustained. He blacked out as the enemy was encroaching on his position. And that's when his true mutant power manifested. Having been dormant for decades, Viator shapeshifted into a huge ... well.... the closest description would have to be 'weretiger.' In a rage he not only killed multiple Vietkong enemy soldiers, he healed from all his injuries - both from the crash and the panicked shooting of the enemy as he had been attacking them. Viator's healing ability had gone into overdrive, and got stuck that way permanently with the emergence of his shapeshifting power. To the point where he literally stopped aging at the age of 43 years. He remembered most of what had happened - he had shapeshifted not only into a weretiger, but one that was able to.... set himself on fire to burn the enemy. Incinerate them, really - those that he hadn't ripped apart with his claws and teeth.
He stayed in the army for several more years after that, until it would have become suspicious due to his lack of aging - after which he went into private employment as a mercenary, every couple of decades changing his identity. Eventually he just started calling himself 'Viator' and dropped all pretense of any other name.
Today, if you can find him, and you can hire him, maybe you can hire the V-Team.
Long story short, Viator is a mutant with a few basic powers in his powerset. First and foremost, his healing ability has halted his aging process. And while his healing is weak in human form, in his 'weretiger form' (aka battle form), it's VERY impressive, including the ability to regrow limbs within a matter of hours. He also has different secondary powers, depending on the form he is in. He found out about the sunfire fur when he first transformed in Vietnam, brought on by either rage, fear, or pure desperation at the prospect of dying. He found out about his ability to heal others moderate injuries by accident, years later, when he licked someone in 'tiger' form (although he tends to refer to that, inaccurately, as his 'catte' form. In human form though... he does not really have any powers beyond the minor healing that made him a rather good soldier in the first place.
He's spent most of his life either as a soldier or a private mercenary, never really letting people know how long he's been alive (over 72 years, despite only looking in his 30s or 40s at best). And because of how long he's been at it, he's rather good at being a soldier.
Personality
A touch of the wild: Viator has spent an increasingly amount of time in his feline forms, to the point many have never realized he's human, he finds it more comfortable...perhaps he's becoming increasingly more of a tiger, but he thoroughly enjoys what it is like to be a large feline.
Unhinged but a Protector: Viator has it in his mind, since he's unique, he might be some sort of ancient deity given form... or their blessing, and thus when he finds some one, or some thing he deems to give his protection to, he is fiercely loyal to said thing. The catch? He also thinks any praise they return to him is hero or god worship.
Whimsical like a cat: Viator is -very- whimsical, and he isn't sure if it's due to his nature, or learned behavior, but in the end, he's as every bit whimsical as a feline stereotype can be... and enjoys the chaos he can cause unintentionally.
Logs
- TBA
Gallery
