Name: Ashling
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Species: Succubus
Appearance: Link
Personality: Ashling is strong-willed and loyal, especially to the person who saved her life, but is stubborn as a result. She has no tolerance for those who would attempt to control her, which led to quite a few arguments with Elene when they were younger, but will gladly tolerate anybody that treats her as an equal. She's simply glad to have the kinds of conversations she would never have had as a child. Needless violence, in either word or actions, is also one of her triggers that will cause the young woman to leap into action, possessing a passion for heroics that most would not normally associate with a Succubus. Depending on which side one sees of her first, she's either a quiet and kind-hearted young woman, or a ticking time bomb.
Her passions include weaving tapestries, as an outlet for the times when she gets overwhelmed with emotion, sparring, as a way to make up for the perceived fragility of Succubi and a less resource-intensive form of anger management, and crafting illusions. Though she would not perform them in front of a crowd, she practices her species' ability to make illusions in private, like most of her subjects. She's not particularly intelligent, and classrooms make her nervous, but she always gets something done on time. Its quality is debatable. Although she could not bring her sword into the school, she carries around the sheath for the feeling of protection, and it could easily serve as a weapon to parry or bludgeon should the need arise.
Despite her general modesty, Ashling does get something of a thrill from using her illusions in combat. There is nothing like her sword unsheathing with a cloud of stars, or her arrival on the scene to be punctuated by the earth apparently cracking beneath her feet. Elene encourages this vigorously.
History: Ashling grew up in the land of Youkai, the daughter of a Succubus and a Snowman whose lives were ruled by times gone by. They met through shared interests, in particular the recording of Human/Youkai conflicts, which resulted in the deaths of many of their ancestors and the friends of their ancestors, some of whom were wiped out completely. With the birth of their child, they expected to raise her to be like them; to share the same disdain for Humans, who sought to slaughter entire species of Youkai, including civilians and those who were unable to fight back. Not immediately, of course, but they took her to bed with stories about the old battles, essentially trying to demonize Humans in the mind of the young girl.
But she didn't understand why they were doing it. The stories gave her nightmares, scary nightmares, and they refused to stop when she told them so. They were meant to cause nightmares, and instill the idea that Humans were her enemy, which made her grow to resent them. When she was five years old, they attempted to get her started with training, by teaching her to pull heavy things, running lap after lap around the home, and otherwise doing plenty of chores to get her ready, should she ever need to defend herself from a Human. Or, as they spoke of, to fight them as a footsoldier, or even an Officer. They were proud of her progress, but Ashling didn't like it. She wanted them to be hurt, for forcing her through these things, but the one time she mentioned not liking it, she got smacked.
Whenever she disobeyed, she would get another, and another, until she would follow their orders and continue training. By the age of eight, she was expected to learn fencing and the art of wielding a blade, which she did with her father. He didn't hold back, save for the fact that it was a blunted blade, forcing her to learn competence to avoid the pain. And she became good at it, so much so that she was even rewarded with materials necessary to make tapestries. They made her make some of their imagined battles, but most of them went into cooling her growing anger at her horrid parents.
It didn't work for long, as she wasn't as intelligent as they expected her to be, by the time she hit puberty. They thought she clearly wasn't working hard enough, so her Father tied her down while her Mother removed her left eye with a Human-crafted blade. They said it was because of the Humans that they had to do it, and that the blade was proof. She ran as soon as her bonds were cut, fleeing into the forest until her legs buckled underneath her and she had to use her wings to propel herself through the branches. She heard music for the first time, and followed the beautiful noise until she found the clearing where it came from. She caught only a glimpse of a younger Elene, before collapsing.
In Ashling's eyes, Elene had saved her life, as she brought her home and Elene's parents helped to fix the young woman's injury as best they could. To make it not horrific. From there, it was a quick avenue to friendship, and learning for the young Vampire, who was taught some measure of humility and the necessity of having others by her side. They lived together for a few years, before attending Youkai Academy, with both Marilyn and Elene teaching her the life of normal Youkai. Each of them provided something for her to appreciate.
Weakness: Her weakness is a Heroic BSOD. Anything that reminds her of past trauma, including particularly strong words or gruesome violence, can make her flinch or, in overwhelming cases, break down completely.
Other: Ashling only has one eye, and a scar going down the same side.
Code: Cherry Strawberry
