#this is rambley and bad but i wanted 2 bitch and talk ab her now

[andbeyonds-blog]

       okay so.  sometimes i just wanna talk about my Kids and you gotta deal with that.  did this need a banner?  probably not but she looks # good with this psd. anyways.  i have 2 be real,  ash wasn’t one of my favorites the first time i played the game.  but after a few more goes i wonder what First Play liz was thinking because she’s honestly one of the most complex and real female characters i’ve seen in a video game.  granted,  i dont play many video games,  but idk something about her is so organic and compelling and i feel like it gets overlooked a lot due to sexism in the fandom reducing her to an annoying stereotype of a character like a UvU cinnamon roll who just wants to read and cuddle chris and cry all the time  OR  they paint her to be like Evil and Bad because she’s not making the best decisions in a time that her Creators have established she was working through trauma.  

         ashley,  more than any of the kids,  is one that interests me because of how DYNAMIC she can be,  and how much is left unknown with her.  i feel like a lot of people look over how big of a driving force she is in the game,  and i hate that her moments of strength and clarity are outshined by her “””weaker”’ moments  (which i argue are just the times shes reacting to whats happening to her in Rational and Human ways),  but anyways,  i digress.  ashley brown is important and is allowed to not be perfect.

        but this post wasn’t for that,  so let’s get to the good stuff.  i will play ashley precanon upon request,  but my default verse for her is post canon,  and,  unless you are an until dawn blog,  especially one that plays them,  emily and chris will be dead  (because tbh im just so interested in ashley’s involvement in the ends of their deaths,  if thats the route you take). ashley post blackwood is absolutely a product of that dynamic change she can undergo over the game. she’s much less trusting,  even of her friends,  and she’s a lot more cynical,  her inquisitive nature certainly took a toll after the weekend at the lodge. if anything though,  she’s more forthright than before,  and not as hesitant to speak her mind,  and assert her opinion:  life’s too short for anything else.

         in most post canon verses,  ashley has given up writing as well.  after an attempt to tell the story of that night on the mountain, which wasn’t given the respect and attention she believed it deserved,  she’s instead working to become an editor,  though with a general distaste for the literary industry as a whole.

        ashley’s not overly jaded by any means though.  she’s tries to be kind,  she really does.  but its hard sometimes,  to find the best in the world after feeling like you’ve seen the absolute worst. she’s a girl at a crossroads,  constantly still coping with and trying to understand her world as a survivor.  TL;DR?  ashley as featured here isn’t the quiet geeky girl the fandom makes her out to be.  she’s not a homicidal bitch either.  she’s a teenage girl who tried to do what it would take to keep herself safe,  or her friends,  in some cases.  she’s a  survivor,  and she’s trying to make the most of what her life is now.