Fitzgerald Wanderlust

Fitzgerald Wanderlust
art by @sinlizards
Basic Information
Team	Yellowstone Magic
Former Team(s)	Unlimited Tacos, Charleston Shoe Thieves, Seattle Garages
Overall Rating	(2.5)
Batting	(4)
Pitching	(4)
Defense	(2.5)
Running	(1.5)
Vibes	(2)
Dates Active	Jul 20, 2020–present
External Links	Blaseball-Reference Player Changes Player Page
Biographical Details
Age	Over 40
Pronouns	She/Her, He/Him
Nickname(s)	"Fitz", "No Hitz Fitz"
Personal Relationships
Sexuality	Lesbian
Other Background Information
Shoe-Stealing Specialty	Wingtip shoes and boots

Fitzgerald Wanderlust is a player for the Yellowstone Magic, and has been with the team since Fall Ball. Wanderlust has previously been in the Shadows for the LA Unlimited Tacos and Seattle Garages. Wanderlust has also played for the Charleston Shoe Thieves, and twice was in main lineup of the Seattle Garages.

Official League Records

Wanderlust joined the ILB as a player in the Shadows for the Los Angeles Tacos with the Return of Blaseball.

During the Season β8 elections, Wanderlust joined the Charleston Shoe Thieves' pitching rotation in exchange for Kevin Dudley as a result of the Thief in the Night blessing.

On Season 9, Day X, Wanderlust gained the Mild modification after the Shoe Thieves lost to THE SHELLED ONE'S PODS.

In the Season β10 elections, Wanderlust received Noise-Cancelling Headphones, becoming Soundproof. (The Headphones would later be lost, along with all other Discipline Era items across the league, at the beginning of Season β15.)

On Season β17, Day 15, Wanderlust was exchanged to the Seattle Garages due to Feedback. Wanderlust was replaced by Jaylen Hotdogfingers. During the Season β17 elections, Wanderlust retreated to the Garages' Shadows due to the Garages' Move will.

On Season β18, Day 45, Wanderlust rejoined the Garages' pitching rotation in exchange for Terrell Bradley via The Hotdogfingers Memorial Climate Pledge Garage and Parking Facility's Fax Machine.

During the Season β22 elections, Wanderlust retreated to the Garages' Shadows in exchange for Betsy Trombone via the Garages' Roster Swap will.

During Fall Ball, Wanderlust fell to the Yellowstone Magic.

During the Season 2 elections, Wanderlust's pitching increased 2.5 → 3.5 as a result of the NEW Pitching Boost blessing.

COMMUNITY REPORTS
The remainder of this article contains lore created collaboratively by the Blaseball community.

Personal Life

Early Life

The names of her parents, and indeed whether "Wanderlust" was her surname at birth or a later adoption, are unknown, but letters later in life indicate one or more of Wanderlust's parents worked in the Sloss Steel Works before the family relocated to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1889, presumably finding employment at the famous Bethlehem Steel Works there. In one of his later alchemical treatises, Wanderlust indicated this family history of steelworking contributed to his eventual fascination with alchemy, stating "My father showed me that metallurgy, the combination and recombination of natural substances to produce impossible results, was not something you learned at the feet of university professors but by shoveling pig iron into the open mouth of hell ten hours every day."

Little else is known about Wanderlust's early life until her admittance at Radcliffe College in 1898, pursuing a degree in chemistry. She quickly became enamored with the works of the alchemist George Starkey, and her letters from the period discuss a series of attempts to recreate a mercury based compound "capable of dissolving gold and, when heated, extruding a tree of pure metal which is a direct precursor to the production of a Philosopher's Stone." Whether Wanderlust was successful in this endeavor is unknown, as his letters abruptly cease in 1900 following his expulsion from Radcliffe for unknown reasons and his relocation to New York City.

Literary Career

The Sophia Cycle

Between 1922 and 1925, Wanderlust published a series of poems referred to by scholars as "The Sophia Cycle". While these poems differ significantly in structure and style ranging from modernist freeform verse to traditional hexameter, they share a common subject, "Sophia". These have traditionally been interpreted as love poems to a woman named Sophia, although some scholars maintain they are an esoteric allegory along the lines of Wanderlust's other works of the period, referencing the Gnostic mythological figure of Sophia. Wanderlust's most widely popular poem, The Sea In The Shore, is from this period.

Alchemical Treatises

In addition to his poetry, Wanderlust also published four alchemical treatises throughout the 1920s. None of these works have survived, but references to them in Wanderlust's later letters indicate they dealt chiefly with medical alchemy, culminating in a final work titled On the Transmutation of Living Flesh, about which almost nothing is known beyond the title. The only surviving reference is in an anonymous polemical circulated among the alchemical community in Kiev, describing the techniques described in the text as "troubling to anyone of sound mind and conscience" and advising readers to destroy any copies they came across.

Disappearance

Wanderlust disappeared on September 3, 1929, having left Garbo's home that morning for "a short drive" and failing to return. Local police declined to assist with a search, and a private investigation funded by Wanderlust's Los Angeles associates was unable to locate him.

Resurfacing and Career With the Tacos

Sometime in XX17, Wanderlust emerged in Los Angeles and encountered Los Angeles Tacos players Wyatt (then Taiga) Quitter and Wyatt (then Wanda) Pothos while attempting to refuel a 1927 Ford Model A at a local gas station. Wanderlust agreed to accompany the players to one of their practices, meeting with Tacos manager Al Pastor, who was surprised to discover Wanderlust's name and signature already on a contract with the team that neither party recalled negotiating. Despite this unusual circumstance, Wanderlust had no objections to joining the team, and was officially added to the Tacos roster as a pitcher in Season β2, although she did not start in an ILB game during that period.

Despite not actually playing, Wanderlust was considered a full member of the Tacos, participating in their kickball games and Taco Tuesday events, though she was banned from cooking at the latter after distilling a salsa so potent and spicy that it had to be ritually destroyed, contributing to dimensional instability in and around Los Angeles.

Wanderlust was personally unaffected by the Wyatt Masoning in Season β3, but made use of his extensive alchemical experience to assist with the resulting complications, helping to stabilize NaN in the aftermath. Shortly after, Wanderlust decided to explore the newly Infinite Los Angeles, becoming trapped in a rogue Feedback Storm and disappearing.

Rescue From the Shadows and Career in Charleston

During the Season β8 postseason, Charleston Shoe Thieves player Velasquez Alstott heard a cry for help coming from behind an unmapped door in the Beck And Call Hotel in Sunken Charleston, and alerted her teammates. The Shoe Thieves decided that a rescue operation was fundamentally a type of heist, as it entailed stealing a person from the concept of Danger, and took action.

Kevin Dudley volunteered to handle the rescue, reasoning his ghostly ability to move through space without physical interaction would prove useful in the zero gravity environment beyond the unmapped door. Disaster nearly struck when the rope tied around Dudley's waist as an anchor passed through his incorporeal body and he was sucked into the Feedback Storm.

Finally having two players from different teams, the Feedback Storm swapped the two players team assignments and, having fulfilled its purpose, subsided. With the Storm calmed, Wanderlust and Dudley were able to easily locate the room's exits into both The Beck and Call and a public bathroom in Los Angeles. Dudley decided to remain in the void chamber, asking Wanderlust to tell the Tacos he was taking "a long overdue vacation" and that "if they need me to toss a ball or two, they know where to find me."

The Shoe Thieves were initially shocked to see Wanderlust emerge from the door without Dudley, but accepted her explanation of events. She quickly endeared herself to the team by demonstrating unexpected competence as a pitcher and performing radical alchemical experiments on Snyder Briggs, Hotbox Sato, and Simon Haley, improving both their blaseball abilities and long-term health.

Wanderlust's left arm was decorporealized in the Feedback Storm, and he fashioned a prosthetic replacement out of an esoteric compound of gold and brass with roughly the same texture and warmth as human flesh. While previously he had been right-handed for the majority of activities, Wanderlust made the decision to pitch left-handed, utilizing the power of his new arm.

Career with the Garages

In Season β17, a Feedback Storm appeared mid-game. With the Garages’ active pitcher Jaylen Hotdogfingers still suffering from extreme susceptibility to Feedback, a swap happened in just the first inning, sending Hotdogfingers to Charleston once again. Wanderlust weathered the storm well; although the Garages would go on to lose the game, she threw eight strikeouts and allowed only four runs. The team threw a joint party the day after, wishing happy trails for Hotdogfingers and cheering Wanderlust’s arrival at the same time.

Wanderlust pitched the remainder of the season for the Garages, using the long breaks afforded by the team’s overlarge rotation to explore Seattle and get to know her new teammates. She struck up a quick friendship with Theodore Duende, the closest thing the Garages had to a professional adult, and assisted Magi Ruiz in her scientific exploits. His knowledge of chemistry and alchemy were especially useful to Ruiz’s projects. In addition, Wanderlust has taken to sharing stories of the Los Angeli with Wyatt Mason X after xe learned about Wanderlust’s role in stabilizing xer close friend NaN.

When playing for the band, Wanderlust contributes saxophone and trumpet music, and has produced several records (on vinyl only). Some are joint projects with his teammates, while others are solo works. These albums consist of spoken-word renditions of his poetry, bridged by long pieces of improvisational free jazz. Though other members of the band have attempted to broaden the scope of Wanderlust’s musical tastes, she claims “I’ve had a long, long time to listen to everything, and I know what I like.”

After Season 17, Wanderlust retired to the shadows for the following Siesta and the first half of Season β18. Terrell Bradley sought her out immediately — first to welcome her to the Seattle Shadows Co-op, and second to request a special batch of the dimension-destabilizing spicy salsa that Wanderlust first developed in Los Angeli. The salsa has since become a smash hit at the Hot Sauce Bar and Grill; as the three are largely unaffected by its destabilizing qualities, Wyatt Mason X often brings Wyatt Mason IV and NaN to Seattle to try it. “It’s — mmm — sorta tingly,” reported NaN during one such visit.

In the Co-op, he started an apothecary known as “The Wanderlust Emporium of Solutions and Answers: Alchemy for the Discerning Gentleperson.” Wanderlust’s alchemical creations cover a wide range of uses and degrees of miraculousness. Traditionally, she offers relatively simple remedies for the ills of visiting Seattleites. After researching the state of the national healthcare system, however, Wanderlust ramped up production in this area, distributing healthy and well-tested alchemical alternatives to expensive and life-saving medications. She frequently collaborates with Magi Ruiz, an activist for diabetes awareness and insulin accessibility. Among his other wares are prosthetics with a variety of functions. Some produce different liquids on command, inspired by the arms of Avila Guzman. Others endow the bearer with incredible talent in highly niche skills — after fulfilling one of these orders, Wanderlust was briefly inconvenienced by association with a cheating scandal in a nearby disc glolf league. As their unusual tarot deck bewilders a good number of other tarot practitioners, Lenjamin Zhuge offers the occasional reading in Wanderlust’s store.

During one Siesta, Wanderlust’s tailoring hobby (one of her many hobbies) developed enough that he opened a side business called Perfect Fitz. His first project was to modify his customary Garages flannel into a set of dashing neckties, bowties, and pocket squares. In her free time, she takes orders for flannel-derived outfits to allow people to show their Garages spirit in all sorts of fashions.

Historical Rumors

The name Fitzgerald Wanderlust and variations on it appears a curious number of times in the historical record, and some scholars surmise these, or most of these, refer to the same person moving through time in a non-linear fashion. However, none have been conclusively proved to be the same Fitzgerald Wanderlust who wrote during the Harlem Renaissance. Many speculate that during the length of time unaccounted for between her disappearance in 1929 and the beginning of her blaseball career, Wanderlust traveled to various points throughout time and space. When asked to confirm or deny this theory, Wanderlust merely laughed and said "I have to keep some secrets, don't you think?"

This time, the Interdimensional Rumor Mill reveals a Historical Rumor from IF-11.724 out of its Historical Rumor Registry...

In 1883 CE the office of Pierre-Jules Hetzel received a number of curious letters inquiring about the appearance of a heretofore unmentioned character in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The character, named Fitzgerald Wanderlust, first appeared on page 23 and recurred throughout the novel, often accompanying significant alterations to the plot. Still others wrote in claiming these changes had begun appearing in earlier editions of the work as well, without any seeming explanation for the modification. When the phenomenon was formally investigated some months later, no trace of these alleged changes could be found in any edition of the novel, and the event was written off as a (quite well-coordinated) hoax.

Fan Works

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  Sketch of Fitzgerald Wanderlust by @stutrololol

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  Fitzgerald by @solphy

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  Fitzgerald by discogoth on Discord

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  Sketch of Fitzgerald by @frobutch

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  Fitzgerald by @glassgoblin

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  Fitzgerald's casual look by @lizzybutt

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  Fitzgerald, Pudge Nakamoto, and Simon Haley @solphy

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  Miniblaseballer by @HetreaSky

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  Feeling Snazzy by @waittheresmoor

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  By @annapullara

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  Fitz by Cori