Ashley

Ashley Wilkins is a 17 year old Joker who escaped from home after losing control and accidentally revealing his powers. 
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==Personality==
Since he was a child, Ashley had always been a very reserved and quiet person. However, being unable to make any friends in Superbia caused him to become shy and nervous. He wanted to be accepted and liked by those around him, but he was unable to attempt to connect with others out of fear of failing and being rejected, leaving him in a state of passive sadness that he was unable to escape from on his own.
As Ashley started to become closer to Casey, his general mindset and self-esteem took a turn for the better. With Casey's help and encouragement, Ashley slowly found himself becoming more confident and more willing to socialize with others, becoming less nervous about what others thought of him and more focused on learning to truly love himself. While he never became a totally optimistic and outgoing person, he was happy that he had someone like Casey in his life that cared enough about him to help him through his emotional struggles, and inspired him to face his fears and doubts, steadily overcoming them to become the best he could be. These thoughts and feelings only grew stronger during the period in which Ashley and Casey were in a relationship, which Ashley himself considers to be the best time of his entire life.
After Casey's death, Ashley's emotional state plummeted to the lowest it had ever been. Feeling an enormous amount of guilt for inadvertently causing Casey's death, Ashley reached a new level of self-loathing, being crushed under the weight of his immense sadness and grief. As he spent time in jail after being captured by the CJA, he felt nothing but a sense of forlorn hopelessness, essentially waiting for death as he spiraled further into despair. 
==Background==
Ashley was born in Acedia, where he lived with his parents as their only child. When he was 14, his family moved to Superbia, due to his father moving up in the ranks at his corporate job, which encouraged him to relocate his family to a nicer home. While Ashley did not want to move, he also did not want to make his parents unhappy, and seeing them so eager led to him pretending to share their joy and agreeing with them that they should move. Once they had settled into their new home in Superbia, Ashley began to fully realize the ramifications of their decision. Having been separated from nearly every connection he had known throughout his life, and being thrust into an unknown nation and forced to start again caused him to become incredibly shy and timid. This behavior, combined with his status as the new kid, led to him feeling completely overwhelmed at school, turning away from those who tried to befriend him out of fear that he would somehow mess up and and be disliked by those around him. The only person who he found himself talking to, who would eventually change the course of his entire life, was his next-door neighbor, Casey.
Casey had tried to befriend Ashley immediately after he moved in, to little success. However, Casey was somewhat persistent, and often walked to school with Ashley in an attempt to learn more about him. While Ashley felt like wanting to turn himself away, like he did with everyone else, he found himself drawn to Casey, due to their completely opposite personalities. While Ashley was quiet, reserved, and subdued, Casey was cheerful, lighthearted, and exuberant. In a way, Ashley considered Casey to be the representation of the person he wanted to be, but could never become. Someone who was well-liked, confident in themselves, and happy to simply be with others. Ashley found himself in a complicated relationship with Casey, feeling happy that someone so kind and warm would want to befriend him, but at the same time feeling disdain at the thought that he would never be able to reach his level, and that he was only wasting his time. These feelings came to a head one day when Casey asked Ashley if he wanted to hang out with him and some of his other friends. For reasons unknown to Ashley himself, this question resulted in him getting uncharacteristically angry, questioning Casey about why he was so persistent about trying to connect with him when he was such a quiet and unlikable person who contributed nothing meaningful to other people's lives. Shocked and concerned to hear Ashley talk about himself this way, Casey told him that he saw how Ashley never seemed to talk to anyone else at school, and that he always looked so sad and lonely. When Ashley initially took this as an insult, Casey quickly panicked and wrapped him into a hug, clarifying that what he meant was that he cared about Ashley, and just tried doing whatever he could to finally see him be happy. This display of worry and affection broke open the gates keeping Ashley's negativity all balled up inside, and he tearfully confessed all of his terrible thoughts and feelings to Casey, being unable to stop himself as he frantically sobbed in his arms. After bringing him back to his house, and finally being too tired to cry further, Ashley agreed to have an honest and cathartic discussion about his constant anxiety and lack of self-worth, truly opening up to another person for the first time in his life. With this newfound trust and understanding between them, Ashley found his first real friend in Casey.
After having strengthened his bond with Casey, Ashley finally had someone to talk about his feelings with, without feeling judged or shamed for doing so. Casey told Ashley that, although he would hug him as much as he wanted, the only way to really help Ashley feel better was to make himself truly realize that he is worthy of happiness, respect, and connections with others. Casey would often take Ashley on "adventures", aiming to slowly and carefully push him over time to be more open and willing to form relationships with other people. Taking him to places like local malls and hanging out with a scant few of his other friends occasionally to get him adjusted to being around others, to exploring nearby woods and forests to give Ashley the space to decompress and not worry about anyone being around to judge him, building up his confidence bit by bit overtime until he could carry it with him into conversing with others. It was around this time that Ashley began to realize that he was developing feelings for Casey, although he kept this to himself, afraid that revealing such a thing could permanently damage their friendship.
On one fateful summer day, while going on one of their nature walks, Casey and Ashley stumbled upon a strange looking fruit that was hanging from a tree. Jokingly, Casey suggested to Ashley that he should try the fruit, and that it would be a good test of courage. As he glanced off in another direction to scope out their path, Ashley grabbed the fruit and took a bite, having not realized that Casey was joking. Upon eating the fruit, Ashley nearly passed out from the taste, being revolting on a level that he didn't even realize was possible, resulting in Casey hurriedly carrying him back to his house in case it was an emergency. While Ashley quickly recovered, he agreed with a worried Casey to stay at his place for a bit so he could help if he suddenly became sick again from the fruit, being unable to refuse such an offer from someone he liked so dearly, resting on his bed and eventually falling asleep as Casey read a book by his side.
Later that night, while Casey was taking a shower, Ashley awoke to the sight of the bed he was on being shredded, with padding scattered across the floor. Before he even had the chance to wonder what had happened, he became horrified to notice that he had sprouted claws from his fingers, and that his hands were somehow much bigger and covered in white fur. As the pieces came together in his mind, and time felt as if it slowed to a standstill, Ashley realized that he was a Joker. He had heard about Jokers before, mostly from the other kids at school, mentioned in hushed tones and scant whispers. Freaks who used their abilities to kill and torment innocent people; monsters who were to be hunted down and slain before they could destroy everything in sight. Frozen in place due to the sheer terror of how sudden this all occured, he didn't notice Casey stepping back into the room after finishing his shower, only to be met with the sight of Ashley staring blankly and widely at the scene before him. Once he noticed Casey and the horrified expression on his face, Ashley broke down, sobbing as he collapsed to the floor and called himself a monster who could no longer do anything but hurt people. As Ashley felt himself relapsing into his old mindset of self-loathing and worthlessness, he felt Casey's arms wrap around him once again, as if it was the same exact hug from before that led him away from that dark path some time ago. While Ashley screamed at Casey to get away, afraid that he'd hurt him with his claws that he had no clue how to retract, or if he even could, Casey told Ashley that he knew that he wasn't a monster, and that whatever this was changed nothing about who he was as a person. Regardless of whether he was a Joker or human, he was still worthy of love and happiness, and that he would be stupid to believe that he would suddenly turn on him just because of some tiger claws. Having expected nothing but an immediate and hateful rejection, Ashley felt completely overwhelmed by this show of support and compassion, before realizing that he never should've doubted Casey in the first place, and that it was this unconditional support and constant warmth that had made him fall in love with him. With this, all Ashley could do was confirm this sentiment out loud, telling Casey over and over again that he loved him as he cried into his embrace, rambling on until he was too exhausted from the whole affair to stay awake.
Now coming to grips with the fact that he had gained an ability, Ashley was worried about accidentally losing control once again, revealing himself to the public and potentially hurting people in the process. To help alleviate his fears, Casey vowed to help Ashley train in private, using the time they had over the summer to learn about how his ability works and how to fully control it. As they started the training, and began to figure out more of the nature of his ability, Ashley slowly built up the confidence to confess his feelings to Casey, feeling awkward about his outburst before and wondering if Casey had realized what he meant. Upon being confessed to, Casey was relieved that Ashley had followed up on his earlier words, as he had assumed that it was simply in the heat of the moment and that he did not mean it in a romantic way, and started to laugh about overthinking it for so long. While Ashley was embarrassed that his confession received such a reaction, Casey told Ashley that he felt the same way, and they began a relationship.
Having been accepted by Casey as both a person and a lover, Ashley felt better than he had ever felt before. Even despite the constant worrying about accidentally losing control and revealing his power, he felt that he could manage it as long as Casey was by his side, as he gave him the strength to persevere at both his physical and mental training, inspiring him to become the best person he could be in every facet of his life. However, this happy and peaceful lifestyle came crashing down one day, while Ashley and Casey were on their way back home from a date, where they were both held at gunpoint by a robber who wanted their money. While Ashley panicked, Casey calmly stepped forward, reaching into his pocket to grab his wallet and phone to hand over to the gunman. When he shoved his gun right into Casey's face in an attempt to intimidate him to go faster, Ashley reacted without thinking, prioritizing Casey's safety above all else and using his tiger claws to slash through the robber's hand, cutting the gun and his fingers into pieces before anyone even realized what had happened. As the robber clutched his shredded hand, crying and screaming for someone to help him, Casey grabbed the frozen Ashley and sprinted back home, with Ashley apologizing all the way back for what he did and ruining both of their lives forever. Once they returned, Casey told Ashley that they'd have to leave, and that he wouldn't let anything bad happen to him. After quickly grabbing some essential items, they both ran away from home, planning to get far away from the area before anybody could find out who the tiger-handed attacker was.
While Ashley was constantly on edge, always being prepared to see people hunting for him around every corner, he and Casey managed to avoid being found out for longer than he expected. They spent a bit of time camping around, moving from town to town and making sure to not stay anywhere for too long before moving forward. Ashely constantly felt guilty for what he had done, often tearfully apologizing to Casey for essentially forcing him to throw his entire life away for the sake of trying to keep him safe, but Casey always told him that he would do it all again if it meant staying with him and keeping him out of harm's way. In the end, they could not run forever, and were eventually discovered by the CJA in southern Superbia. As they ran from their pursuers, overwhelmed with panic and fear, being attacked from all sides in an attempt to subdue Ashley, Casey ended up being caught in the crossfire, getting pierced clean through the chest and falling to the ground before Ashley could even realize what had happened. As he tried to stop and go to Casey, frantically horrified upon seeing him collapse, Casey weakly told Ashley to keep moving forward, and that he was sorry. Having no idea how to react to seeing his boyfriend’s final moments, he took his advice, and used his tiger legs to run as fast as he possibly could away from the investigators. It was only after he found some distance between him and the pursuers that he started to fully process what had just happened. The person he had loved more than anything else in his life, whom he shared countless precious memories and experiences with, who had become the main reason he found life worth living, had been taken from him within the span of a few seconds, and it was all his fault. He was the reason they had to run away, the reason they were being hunted down, the reason that Casey’s life was lost, forever. He would never see him or talk to him or feel him ever again. The weight of this realization crashed onto Ashley with the force of an atom bomb, causing him to have a complete and total breakdown as he fell into the absolute depths of despair, as if his heart and soul had been ripped clean from his body, leaving him a sobbing, unmoving, worthless husk on the floor. Unable to find the will to even move, he was eventually discovered by the CJA, and captured before being sent to a prison in nearby Ira. 
==Powers and Abilities==
=== Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Tiger ===
The Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Tiger is a Zoan-type Devil Fruit that allows Ashley to transform into a tiger hybrid and a full tiger at will, making him a Tiger Human. While in these forms, Ashley is granted superhuman physical abilities and senses in proportion to the form that he is in. As a Carnivorous Zoan, Ashley's abilities when in use are naturally tuned for combat, making his strength skyrocket and allowing him to move and react at hypersonic speeds, as well as granting him incredible stamina and durability. 
However, currently most of this is theoretical, as Ashley has had nowhere near the training to properly utilize the powers granted to him by the fruit. When learning to control his powers with Casey, he only did so to avoid further incidents where he could use them without realizing, with no intentions whatsoever of using them in combat against others. Because of this, Ashley is not yet able to fully turn into a tiger, with his reluctance to delve too deeply into the potential of his abilities making him currently only able to transform into a hybrid form. This hybrid form is also not the same version as the normal hybrid form that all Zoan Devil Fruit users have, as Ashley's unwillingness to try too much lest he lose control has resulted in this hybrid form being much leaner and more compressed, closer resembling a human. Due to its smaller size, it is faster than the normal hybrid form, but not as strong. Category:Characters
Category:Ultimate Domon
Category:Dark Nights
Category:Human
Category:Male
Category:Joker
Category:Acedia (Dark Nights)
Category:Pirate
Category:Exorcist