character name: Neena Wagner age & birthday: 25, October 23rd, 1998 gender & pronouns: Cis woman, She/Her place of birth & time in East Haven: Born in Boston and raised in East Haven, left for college district: Mount Aston occupation: True Crime podcaster faceclaim: Simone Ashley family: Nick Wagner, Johnny Wagner, TBD Wagner, Verity Wagner, Summer Cavanagh, Waverly Erickson, Alec Kincade
CHARACTER BIOGRAPHY TWs: teen pregnancy, death
PAST
Neena often thinks of her birth as something far removed from her self. It is separate and has no tie to who she is, in her mind it is almost the same as being born from a surrogate or even an incubator. Neena’s birth mother gave birth to her at the tender age of 17 and quickly gave her up for adoption. Thankfully, a married couple who had just had the devastating news of no longer being able to have another child by birth were looking for the perfect final addition to their family. Naomi and Nick Wagner soon were linked to baby Neena in her Boston orphanage and fate delivered them the perfect baby girl. The birth certificate may have said Neena Konar, but she’s never thought of that name as any importance to her - Wagner is her real name. Neena was taken home by the Wagners after all the paperwork was finished when she was only a few months old and to her, that was her real family. Growing up, Neena never looked at Naomi or Nick as anything other than her real parents. They were the ones who wanted her when her own birth incubator did not.
When Neena was still young, her father was still playing football professionally. There are many photos and videos of little baby Neena dressed up for her father’s team and sitting on his shoulders during the post-game interviews. And since her father retired when she was still in elementary school, she had something her older siblings never had, her father around for all of her childhood. Naomi and Nick doted on Neena while making sure to connect her with her culture. She attended classes and festivals and was raised to learn everything about her Indian background. While Neena appreciated that from her parents, she saw the Wagner’s culture as her own as well in addition. Both held meaning to her, and she never saw one above the other. She liked how it created a colorful tapestry for her background.
Neena was vivacious from a young age, and could often be described as dramatic and extra. Growing up, she was always the one to fill a room with her personality, and to be the center of attention. Neena tried almost every extracurricular activity she could and though she dropped a lot, she liked trying everything there was to offer. She took plenty of art classes, participated in theater in high school, was on the dance team, ran for student government and even was prom queen. Never one to fit into one box, Neena was popular, approachable and kind, but a wild child as well. She surely gave her parents many gray hairs as they struggled to raise her. Neena often snuck out of the Wagner house to attend parties, she was brought back drunk by the local cops, and even once got dared to steal a neighbor’s lawn mower and accidentally ended up with it in the lake in the person’s backyard drunk and laughing hysterically. Her parents tried to protect her as best they could with their connections, but she did face consequences with community service to keep her underage record clean.
It was soon after her 18th birthday that Neena finally reached out to the orphanage to figure out who her birth mother was. She had often wondered who her birth mother was and what the circumstance of her adoption had been. But, she never had thought of Naomi and Nick as anything but her real parents. Finding this woman would never replace them. Only fill out some questions she had. But, when she finally tracked down the woman, it only cemented how little this woman was even a birth mother, she’d been nothing but an incubator Neena was carried in. The woman had been shocked, and horrified to find Neena showing up. She’d been embarrassed and ashamed of her, scooting her away like she was some undesirable showing up on her doorstep to beg for her most prized position. Like she was a criminal. The woman had shooed Neena away, the big ring and big house of her family that had no idea about their mother’s teenage pregnancy. Eventually, Neena left in tears and swearing that the egg and sperm donators who created her were nothing but incubators who only served to get her to her real family - the Wagner’s.
Eventually she did graduate high school and left to attend NYU in the fall. Neena majored in marketing and double minored to satisfy by her loves of art and history. She visited on some weekends, and was always glad to show her parents the city that had become her new home. She thrived, partying and living up to her glamorous and wild child reputation. Neena loved New York City and all the city had to offer, even when she got to see the underbelly this city still felt like a new home. After graduation, she got a marketing job over in Brooklyn and worked for almost a year before she figured out the 9-5 office job wasn’t for her. Even with the creative outlet of her job, she still felt stifled and boxed in. Was this really what she wanted for the next 80 years? Working day in and day out in the same cubicle, the same office, the same tasks that she just got to do all over again with a different project each week? She felt like she was drowning and quit. Neena could have stayed in New York if she wanted, even without a job she knew her parents would have supported her while she figured out the next step. But she didn’t know the next step.
Truthfully going back to East Haven wasn’t a downgrade or a loss to her, Neena saw it as she was just going back to sort out her thoughts and figure out her next move. If that meant going back to New York, she’d be happy to go there, or another city, or even stay in her home town. While in college, Neena had started a true crime podcast just out of a fun hobby. It had done well, and during her time in her marketing job, she grew her following and started to market merch as well as a few paid episodes and even paid sponsorship. It was there she realized she could make this her full time job and support herself. Starting off with a converted shed in her parent’s backyard, Neena started to record there before she eventually earned enough money to but a small studio herself downtown. With a job like this, she realized she could go wherever she wanted and Neena had been thinking of where she wanted to move next when the worst thing happened.
The truth was, her parents had found out Naomi was sick when they found out she couldn’t have another child. For Neena’s whole life, her parents had hid Naomi’s disease, and eventual end. It was during this time that the truth of her mom’s sickness came out. Neena of course stayed in East Haven, refusing to leave her mom now. Before her eyes, her mom quickly declined and soon the family was burying the sweetest woman anyone had ever known. She struggled with the grief and loss at first, as did the rest of her family. Her mom couldn’t die, she couldn’t have been sick her whole life. None of this could be real. But it was.
PRESENT
Eventually, Neena did decide to stay in East Haven. Maybe not forever, maybe eventually she would move to another city to do her podcast, but for right now her dad was still here and she didn’t want to leave him. Johnny was back too and finally engaged to Stevie who she always knew would be her sister in law, even if her brother had been so stupid to wait all these years. Her podcast is doing great, she’s even planning a tour to do a live show across the country, and though she still misses her mom every day, life is still going on and there is still so much to do and experience. Life is for living and the light in Neena will never go out.
