TIMELINE REPORT - FROM DAY 0 OF OUTBREAK. // REPORTEE: RYDER LAST DATE OF UPDATE: APR 1 MORE ABOUT | BIOGRAPHY | THREAD TRACKER
immunity status: delayed immunity.
useful skills Military Combat, Gun Marksmanship, Reconnaissance, Extreme Conditions, Good Swimmer, Jet Piloting, Military Medical Aid and Combat Trauma Care, Theoretical and Practical Physics, Can debate for hours on the theories of Dark Matter .
supply list library of astrophysics books, university staff and student pass, laptop, mid-range telescope, physicists tools, laser pointer, circuit board scraps, mini solar power generator, tactical flashlight, compass, M18 handgun & 9mm bullets & handgun silencer, M27 rifle & 5.56×45mm NATO & rifle silencer and scope, military combat knives, old dog tag, water bottle.
— status update. april 22nd. ashton ryder - FOUND, ALIVE.
malnourishment & dehydration, starved for 14 days.
broken left ankle. 2 weeks into recovery. limping, but not like he’s going anywhere.
healing dislocated shoulder. 1 month into recovery.
withdrawals from forced heroin intake for 9 days.
concussion from blow to the head.
bruised ribs and neck and lighter bruises all around his body.
cuts, burns and open wounds.
fever from recovering wound infections.
chaffing from metal cuffs and chains on neck and all limbs.
forced rabies viral infection via ingestion. I N F E C T E D. Remedied by singular dose of NLVAX vaccine.
broken mind.
broken soul.
broken heart.
1st Nov - Ashton had finish teaching his physics lecture for the undergrad students that morning, with nothing else to do on campus after that, he brought his thesis work from the labs back home (alongside a birthday gift or two from his graduate mates), rather avoiding the evening rush hour if he stayed. He buried his head in his research until he hears the screams, the crashes, the gunshots, and he looked up and out towards the direction docks and the colour drained from his face. He called his mother who was in Minnesota alone, letting her know he was alright, that everything will be alright. And that's the last he heard from her. he didn't sleep that first night.
2nd Nov - He pulled out the handgun he had locked up all these years, stepping in to join the group that was looking to help the caretaker secure the building, more than happy being at the front lines pushing back the zombies.
3rd Nov - ashton's birthday :c
4th-15th Nov - ashton goes in and out between helping organise their new normal, helped Rosie sort out the garden, continued his thesis work, tried contacting his mom again to no avail. Tried reaching his university, silence. Tried reaching his own military contacts, silence. He started volunteering to go outside and do recons, find survivors, and just do something to figure out what the fuck was going on. it wasn't always approved but when he did, he tried to bring back valuable information on the zombies and any survivors.
16th Nov - after the crash, Tobias shared the radio they found in the ambulance with Ashton to take a look and see what can be done. He devotes more of his time in fixing the radio, as well as trying to make contact with the military. He starts monitoring horde movements from the rooftop daily, helping map out safe routes for scout and recon missions. They were left to fend of themselves, losing hope for help to come anytime soon, so scavenging, raiding and looting had begun. He does his best to bring back what some of the residents request on scouting and scavenging missions. still in denial and working on his thesis when he has nothing else to do.
17th Nov - Sweet potatoes that had been growing over the fall originally meant for scientific research, had been harvested before winter came. The residence now have a large amount of sweet potatoes curing away some to be used early on and others to be kept for the long term months away.
18th Nov - Ashton turned on his phone again, hoping for something different, hoping to contact his mother, or just even send a text to make sure she's okay. Still no service. No signal. No hope. Ria joins him at the diner for their meal before the chaos struck. He last saw Courtney a day or two ago on the roof, she performed a beautiful piece in front of him, and now she's chomping on someone else. They were too far from the action to be useful but Ash went to go track down those bitten and escaped, with Nat and Ria taking down the poor old lady that once shared tea with him when he first moved in.. and then he went off to get his gun to clear out the higher floors, making sure no infected was left, checking in on the residents, putting the poor guy that hid in his apartment and died and turned all alone out of his misery. When everything went quiet, no more groans and screams, he did a sweep before meeting Zach by the staircase helping lift the last of the bodies into the second floor Atrium where they did a head count and mourned for the dead. He couldn't sit around and not do anything and be useless and so he brought out the radio once more. He was missing something he was sure, and he knew it'll click sooner or later. With Zach and Nat's help, they finally figured out the radio and Ash fixes it with a sharp crackle into the first joys of audio they've heard from the device.
21st Nov - Ashton spent the past few days preparing for their trip to the ship after the decision was made to find answers at the start of the outbreak. The radio had hinted towards something on the ship that had made it on but shouldn't have, that it wasn't just a cargo ship. He and Zach departed at daybreak the moment the hordes thinned out, taking the 2 hour trek to the ship and found out that Korea had created immunity test kits in order to find suitable immune antibodies to create the vaccine. The immunity test kits on the ship were meant for global distributions to reach and warn the world while they still could and find a wider pool of immuned antibodies. Zach and Ash grabbed as many as they could in case the ship ever goes under one day. He aggravates an old injury from his left shoulder in the process of escaping the ship but ultimately comes back safe and sound, if you don't count dying a little bit inside coming back with Sada in tow as well.
22nd Nov - After the 24 hour quarantine, Ashton went to Tobias to get his shoulder checked, considering that he was the one to operate on it in the first place, no better time for a check up. His shoulder was wrapped up as a bandage brace and given a few days to recover by itself with the aid of ice, heat, and anti-inflammation pills. The men also then reported in their findings before the decision on what to do with the test kits was made.
23rd Nov - Thanksgiving dinner was nice. Ashton thinks about his mom and tries to reach her again.
2nd Dec - Ashton spots a familiar face of his old marine comrade Kang coming towards the building letting him and his fellow scientist partner in.
12th Dec - After decisions were made, preparations were done to set the whole building up for the test kits and today was the morning Mr Wexley decided to make the announcement. Ashton awkwardly stood beside him with Zach during the announcement. (not important but he just wanted to note down he felt awkward :/) Ash volunteers to be the first resident to demonstrate the test, proving everything was alright and alleviate any fears or doubts people had. He and Zach then went out for a quick run that morning, keeping his promise to Charlie and picked up cigarettes for Jeremiah.
13th Dec - Ashton receives his results of delayed immunity (bummer). He still immediately puts him name in for the supply run, as if it was as easy as taking a walk. Mr Wexley seeks him out to ask a favor from him to take charge of leading the residents, strategizing and assigning the supply runs and giving them safety briefings before heading out for the first time. Ash also offers to teach self defense to anyone heading out.
16th Dec - Ashton had been at the diner that morning later than usual, otherwise he could've been dead. All seemed normal until Charlie came rushing down with an unconscious Skyler in tow. The Carbon Monoxide gas leak hit them all in the morning and Ashton volunteers to start going through and evacuating the residents from their apartments alongside the rest of the others braving through the gas. Ash and Mr Wexley found the source of the leak and worked to clear it out together. With the crisis averted, most came out unscathed except for one, and of course it's Sada's fault, who else. Ashton felt the affects of the gas for the next few days but nothing time and some actual oxygen can't fix.
23rd Dec - Ashton and Zach spent the days leading up to this prepping the teams for the big supply run, everyone pitching in to be divided into teams and focus on various supplies they needed to get before the snow hits them in the face and they need to tide over the winter. All hope was practically lost to be saved and their focus was only on survival at this point in stead of rescue. Ashton has tried to plan out for all worst case scenarios, exit plans, and yet, the worst just couldn't even be thought out well enough, or maybe Ash had just lost his edge from his time away from the marines. His own team should've been a small quick team, in and out. And everything had gone wrong, he should've seen it coming. Losing Skyler there and then had been heartbreaking and coming back to a shit storm everywhere else.. just fuck.
24th Dec - 2nd Mar - The events from their supply run pulled Ash back into a familiar place, a dark place, of leading and letting people down, people dying because of him and his decisions. He focused his efforts on surviving, keeping everyone alive, nothing else. He continued to trudge through the snow to search for the missing residents that never made it back, they were strong hardy people, they can survive, Ash just needs to find them. Till then, he found it very hard to look at people in the eye, especially Charlie. Losing Skyler, sending both her brothers out there for them to not come back, they have to come back. Charlie couldn't lose JP and Jer, and honestly neither could Ash. He never told anyone of his solo runs outside, finding more supplies that they never managed to get and hoping to find their people. He got caught once or twice, but perhaps no words were needed to justify why he was doing it, why he was trying to make it right. Winter came and finally went, at least they've survived the worst. And Ash hopes to continue to look for the rest of the Wexley residents again. ..It can't get any worse. ..Right?
4th Mar - Spring was coming and that meant the snow was starting to melt away, giving Ashton more chances to head out, by now getting full approval from Mr Wexley to do his runs, with his own self condition to at least make it back with supplies and make his trips to search for their people useful. Today his managed to find rice, one of those staples that just never expires, perfect find for them to have carbohydrates and make it last long. He came back first with the spoils straight to Charlie to offload supplies before quarantine. Charlie gave him the news that JP made it back, Ashton instinctively hoped to head back out immediately to avoid the 48 quarantine, taking it as he never came back instead. And that was the first time Charlie yelled at him like at. He would've fought with her if he wasn't so exhausted, hurt by her words enough for him to cave in, promising her that he'd stay in the Wexley for a few days and just be there for her.
4th - 9th Mar - In the last few days, Ash stayed in the building, resting, sleeping just reconnecting with their people again. He checked in with Val, finally spoke with Beau again hoping he'd feel better, made sure Mal was okay, looked for JP once their quarantines were done, it was actually really nice. A soft reminder for what they still had despite what they've all lost.
9th Mar - …Five days constitutes a few days, right??? Ashton was always one to keep his promises, rarely a man to ever break them. But the lack of work to do had him itching again, needing something to do in the building. He started off with the retcon work he hasn't done from the rooftop since the snow hit, observing the activities of the city from the roof and tracking them down, human and non human. He didn't expect to have spotted a Ziggy shaped human on the streets from above. Ash broke his promise to Charlie in that instant to save his friend and bring them back home.
12th Mar - Ash thought that would be a one and done promise break, Charlie wasn't too mad at him considering a life was at stake and it wasn't far. But the next one perhaps was what hurt the most. Ash never had any intentions of heading out that day, he already spoke with JP hoping to dig some information that could help them find Jeremiah. But with the lack of information, that was a thread Ash swiftly dropped, not wanting to force JP into a dark headspace remember the time of their run. So he did not expect to see JP anxiously knocking on his door, wanting- needing to go out and find his older brother. Ash didn't have the highest hopes but he did trust JP and he was definitely not about to let him wander out there alone just as he finally made it back. Ash, JP and Oscar went out for the day, looking in the area JP thought would be the best bet. They came across a raider, at first almost ready to fight when they mentioned they're just looking for someone that fucked them over, a description matching the oldest Rose, the group led the raider astray into a wayward direction, at least inklings of the fact that Jer or someone that looks like Jer is alive somewhere. Ash forced them to end their search by dusk, not about to let them stay outside overnight and upon coming back, it was almost unbelievable to hear Jer had made it back home. Ash couldn't find himself to believe it and he broke protocol just to make sure it was true before he accepted his 48 hours.
15th Mar - coming out free from quarantine once again, Ash caught up with the recent changes and news from everyone, Val's new quarantine protocols to be put in place starting today. Ash preferred quarantining in the comfort of his home but he understands the need for this.
9th - 20th Mar - Charlie hasn't spoken to Ash ever since :(
20th Mar - Birdie makes her way back to the Wexley with survivors and Roman's kid, June, in tow and intel to the brim of the outside world and most pressingly, a call for help. Ashton joined in as one of the volunteers to join the journey in saving the survivors on the boat stranded in the waters, raiders prowling around waiting to jump on them. Charlie hasn't spoken to Ash since the day he came back with JP, he wanted to give her the space she needed from him, letting her be as mad as she wanted to be with him. Jeremiah had chosen to head out too and he might as well go outside and look out for the other brother like he did with the middle Rose. But more importantly, Roman was still out there trying to save these people, Charlie can be mad at him all she wants, but this felt like the right thing to do, if it meant helping get Roman back to his family and Charlie. The volunteers of Jeremiah, Eric, Zach, Oscar and himself gathered that very same day, got further information from Birdie and began working out a plan for the next day. In between prep work, Birdie and June had requested additional supplies, and to borrow some of his space books, it was nice.
21st Mar - The team of five sets off the morning to make their way south to the Upper Bay, plan in action but they couldn't really solidified everything until they see the situation with their own eyes themselves - a lot of things can change in 24 hours. Unaware of the other havoc wreaking in the Wexley, their problems were just as huge, knowing nothing ever goes according to plan but the raiders had been more insidious than they hoped. The raiders already offloaded all the survivors from the boat, when they initially were told that they were still stranded on the boat, and the raiders instead rigged the boat as bait for the team, explosives and Roman on board waiting for those oh so righteous Wexley residents who just had to save people. Everything happened so fast like dominos knocking over their plans. Zach made it back with grave intel that the survivors were actually on shore with the raiders. Just as Zach made it back to them, Ash could only watch from the shore as a part of the boat exploded and the team on the beach desperately tries to make contact with the two that headed towards the vessel. They made a split second decision to continue with the plan, seeing that the raiders had an upper hand on them from the boat, the fireworks was the best hand they still had hidden. Once Zach located where the raiders were actually situated holding the survivors with their supplies hostage, plans shifted to light the fireworks and use the distractions to take on the raiders and overpower them to release the ship survivors. But more enemies appeared than they had initially thought. It got even hairier when a face Ash had been hoping to find for all these months found her way towards their group. It was a rough fight, Oscar getting hurt and Ashton getting his shoulder dislocated again - what is it about boats and his shoulder injury acting up? - but they managed to kill the raiders, with the additional incoming help from Hannah and the survivors, alongside Ruth and Aggie. With the gunfire, some of the chompers had instead of being diverted by the fireworks were instead drawn to the beach, giving the team little time and space to calm down. A saving grace of the rev of an engine came in the form of a driver willing to pick them out of the growing horde, Nikhil piling everyone into the car and managed to make it back home. Ashton was so out of it at that point, he hadn't even noticed Ruth popped his shoulder back in and that the ship team made it back until he looked up in the car to find Jeremiah with him, Roman and Eric also alive. Everyone including the survivors and then some made it home. That was enough of a success.
21st Mar night - The night they got back, Ash and the outside group came to learn of the insane shit that happened inside the building itself, honestly it's hard to pick which is worst but Ash would've preferred dealing with humans than bats. All the rescue team that weren't immune were quarantined into the newly appointed quarantine suites, fitting four in each. While he disagreed with Val that this was a good idea, he was more than glad to be stuck with Ruth and Jeremiah. He firstly spent some time early in the night with his closest friend he thought he lost forever, and when she fell asleep, Ash still couldn't get past the blinding pain and sat outside in the living room till Jeremiah in a similar predicament joined him. They shared a rare moment alone later in the night finding solace and finally some form of sleep in each other's arms only for an hour or two before being interrupted by Aggie panicking and realizing her comfort person in Jer wasn't by her side. Ash couldn't sleep again for the rest of the night.
22nd Mar - Ashton properly met Aggie that morning, the poor girl scared to death and her first impressions of him can't be stellar having seen him with the blood of others on his hands. But the girl trusted both Ruth and Jer, and that was enough of an opening for Ash to have while he tried to talk to her over breakfast, and ended up giving her his share of food seeing how hungry she was and how little appetite he had due to the pain. They perhaps made some progress as she gave him a roll of bread back to share. Later that morning, they each met Val for their blood sample to be drawn and a general check up through their 48 hour quarantine. The juice he had was the first real form of sustenance he had in 24 hours, and Val could tell as she expressed her worry. Ash confessed to the lack of sleep and food due to the pain, and while Val chided that it was more than just that, the bone aching tiredness seeming to have been evident days before the rescue even happened. But after some painful words, she gave him half a dose of Valium - a drug Ash had a history with and had been reluctant to go back to, but Val was right, this was the best time for it, while in quarantine, under the watchful gaze of people he trusted, only did Ash agreed to it, and only in emergencies from then on. Ash managed a few more hours of sleep with it that day.
22nd - 24th Mar - The rest of quarantine went by uneventful, a moment of rest, reunion, solace, peace. Albeit not a lot of sleep, but it was all with good company. Aggie slowly warmed up to Ash over the days of meals, Ruth caught up with the him on the past few missed months, and Jer.. it was just nice to share quiet moments in the late nights with Jer when neither of them could find sleep and so instead found each other.
24th Mar - emotionally exhausting day, I need sleep - Despite the rest, exhaustion was still heavy in Ash as they left quarantine that morning, the building was holding a celebratory breakfast at Rosie's once everyone was free and Ash didn't have the appetite for it and was planning on skipping out to sort out his own shoulder. Charlie didn't give him the option however with breakfast forced upon him, and her wrath of finally breaking her silent treatment to him. She chewed him out, and perhaps he deserved it, but her words hurt all the same, he got all the blame for breaking his promise when he was simply looking out for JP. Ash should've walked away at that point and he regretted not doing so when the alternative was an outburst at Charlie. He managed to pull himself back - Charlie had more important things to worry about, and he shouldn't be one of them. It was an emotionally exhausting moment with her - getting yelled at, taking the blame, accused of not caring enough (he understood Charlie's perspective but he still wasn't sure if she understood his), learning of her pregnancy (by mistake), hoping to help her feel a lil less alone about it. And when she went on her way to a more important talk with Roman and he was finally alone, he let those words she used really hurt him, no more energy to keep the wall up. Only Aggie unknowingly still around saw him really cry that morning. Once the tears ran out completely and he was done with his self pity party of feeling hurt, Ash picked himself back up and went straight for the debrief of their 21st mission. Mr Wexley had unsurprisingly held Ashton back to speak with him alone, forbidding him to leave the building to scout until his injuries were healed. The only fight Ash could put up was laying out all the ugly worries he had for the coming future, things they had to do and had to figure out. Despite their bouts of disagreements, Mr Wexley handed him the keys to the scouts HQ, effectively wanting to put him in charge, it was an uncomfortable conversation when Ashton would've rather turn away from whatever responsibilities the older man thought Ashton could do when he's only proven him otherwise - people have died on his watch, like they always had. But if this was the only way he was going to be able to help if not out there, he took it, the two of them discussed potential best plans moving forward regarding supplies, water, medical, garden, fortifying defenses. After the long meeting, Ash had been craving to just go back to his own apartment he hasn't seen in 3 days. But he was also thankful to Beau inviting him up to see the improvements made to the garden. A welcome distraction from falling too far down a hole he shouldn't, and fresh air was everything after 3 days without it. It was good to catch up with Beau, see him doing so much better, help with the garden, dream up the fruits they could grow for the summer. Watermelons some day. Ash spent the rest of the afternoon up there with Beau and he had initially only went back up to grab some things he forgotten about in the evening, bumping into Ziggy up there, the other half of the pair he was just with a few hours ago, but they weren't there to admire the garden. Drinks and Smokes, Ziggy told him about Aggie being their sister and falling down a spiral Ash was familiar with and might've been in that same day but instead he was here, and he was here for them this time. He got them away from the rooftop's edge to nudged them back down to their apartment, letting Beau take care of them. Ash finally ended the day emotionally completely tapped out, alone, appetite-less, and still without much sleep, shoulder aggravating to moment he dare move in his bed the wrong way.
25th Mar - Without much sleep, Ash took advantage of the early morning as usual to head to the diner, a first after weeks of avoiding it since Charlie had avoided him. The sore, hurt feelings left were of his own and weren't important, he could get over them in the interest of making things okay with Charlie again. Finding her asleep, much needed surely, he helped her set things up for breakfast until she awoke, if he couldn't sleep then at least she should. She told him the positive pregnancy test and the people that knew, he promised not to tell another soul and that he'd be there when she told her brothers (he was careful about his promises this time, cautious of promising things she'd be mad about if he can't keep), it was the least he could do, being who he was in this situation. Once breakfast (though barely his breakfast) was over, Ash settled on keeping up with the work, at some point he had to be exhausted enough to fall asleep through the pain. He looked over the renewed list of supplies they needed, introducing himself to Hannah to ask about any additional things for June and Maisie from a mother's perspective because crayons didn't seem like an essential. He felt like he was being observed, just a weird gut feel, but she was nice, kind. And made a point - vitamin gummies on their next run. Whenever that is, seeing the horde surround their area. They'll make do prioritizing the kids' vitamin intake through what they have, a conversation with Charlie, Rosie and Ruth. He also had a quick check in on Sher having not had a moment since her return. Ash then spent the afternoon regrouping with Zach in the scouts HQ to start preemptively planning supply runs and defensive plans and the night like old times - relaxing after work over a games night and dog therapy as Zach would call it. That night, he finally found a decent few hours of sleep, Ruth managed to find stronger painkillers that she knew worked for him from her old stash.
26th Mar - Ashton woke up feeling not entirely shit (thank you Ruth), though the pain still throbbed, it had lessened in the morning and throughout the day. Meeting Oscar's sister Emily for the first time over breakfast was a nice little thing, and probably for the better when he felt more human again today. He even managed to keep his breakfast down, though still giving a portion to Aggie as usual when she seemed hungry. Mal showed him a working 3D printer they found in their office, one they used to use fairly frequently together. They invited him to join on their quest to making it work and be useful for them again and Ashton could certainly see some possibilities, printing broken parts in the building, gardening tools, chicken coops, barricades, maybe even ammunition. Still, it wasn't Ashton's specialty in physics, but he wouldn't say no to a challenge, something safe, helpful, indoors for the month he's stuck here, he appreciated it because Mal knows exactly how he was feeling having been in the same position all winter. Just a little fun side project for both of them to focus on and potentially become a life saving tool. He finally managed to eat and sleep again that night.
27th Mar - Though Ash had been busying himself the past few days, on the sidelines he had been thinking about this specific day during then. A small little promise he intended to keep for a Rose's birthday. Though it started with running into Sada doing a few errands for his telescope and books for the kids, he let it roll of his back easily, not letting her have a whiff of the day or night planned. He wasn't part of the siblings' celebration with Jeremiah that day, a small sting but reminder of the invisible barrier he can't cross. They deserved their family time alone after all, and he wasn't that kind of family to them. Making him doubt if he'd even get a small chance to celebrate with him, if he'd be busy with someone else, if he'd even remember. But Aggie was up on the roof when he brought up the telescope, a chance to really bond with her and that was nice enough. He wasn't sure what it was but she opened up ever so slightly, as if something clicked that evening. He had been preparing for the worst to be up there alone so it was heartwarming for Jer to have been waiting. Even more surprising when the usual private softness between them seem to pull further down into an uncharted vulnerability. Ash wasn't sure what came over him to have said what he said, not able to stop the words he felt for years from falling out, or doing what he did, not able to stop the urge to kiss him. He definitely wasn't sure if it was the right or just the selfish thing to do. He was too close to losing Jeremiah twice now, he wasn't even his to lose, but it felt that way between them. He didn't need Jer to feel the same or reply there and then, and even more so didn't want to ruin their friendship. Perhaps just some time to think about it, nothing had to change if they didn't want it to. Ashton hadn't told a soul about that night.
29th Mar - Tad offered to do some reiki attunement and guess it did release some tension and pain, Ash wasn't sure whether it was placebo or something actually worked but he'd take anything at this point. A real bro, it was nice having him back, as long as Sada wasn't involved in their interactions. Though speaking of irritants.. Ashton spoke with Judah, one of the newcomers after their rescue mission, and it did not alleviate his suspicions of their intentions of being here. Coming from across the waters, happen to see the fireworks and came towards them just after they fucked over a bunch of raiders. Timing of it all was just suspicious, which was why Ashton had asked to sit in on their entrance chat with Mr Wexley, knowing how quick the older man was to trust strangers he let into this building. While his brother had been quieter, Judah wasn't doing himself any favors with Ashton's suspicions of them.
30th Mar - Once Ruth had a chance to calm down and rest after being immediately thrown into the deep end of doctor duties the moment she returned, her and Ash had a catch up on physiotherapy again for his shoulder, just like the good old days! It was always torturous. At least Ash knew what to expect this time and could probably do it on his own. But he wouldn't say no to the company of his best friend and someone that knew his shoulder better than he did. And on the roof to visit the chicken and garden was a great excuse of some outside exercise again since they're literally trapped in the building. He's thought about it so many times, but he's so thankful for her being back home, more than most would know of the friendship that runs deep between them.
1st Apr - During the birthday party, Ash had volunteered to help Charlie run the bar and give her a break, though with only one good hand there were more stirred not shaken drinks he could pour. Ash would rather hide behind the safety of a bar anyways in a party if he had to be here, looking after the entire bar together with Alice was relaxing in its own way. Though there was a sore sense of loneliness that night, he had no shortage of people that still came by to say hi and get a drink, Mr Wexley the birthday man himself being the first before others like Charlie, Maddie, Ember, Roman, Ria and Linds greeted him before they went on their way with the party, Lindsay eating a barbie shoe had to take the cake of the night of entertainment. Ash took some time between to check in on Aggie and Ziggy as well and he appreciated the others like Hannah, Eric, Zach, Ruth and JP making sure he had a break and something to eat that night, or had some form of fun in a few games or dog therapy. He hadn't gotten much of a chance to see Jeremiah, bar a few shared glances, not wanting to get in the way of Sada with him for the night - the less chances she had to sniff out a shift between them, the better. The night had been going easier than expected, Ashton surviving a party longer than he ever used to do and he actually did have some fun hanging with Zach and playing games with Ruth and JP, they all made him feel much less alone that night. It would've been a wonderful night if he could've just avoided Sada completely, but she wouldn't let that happen. Swinging by much later in the night to push his buttons. He had been used to being insulted himself by her but when she said the awful things about the people he loved, he snapped at her, something as if she had specifically wanted to happen, because soon he saw her plan of causing trouble, finding out about secrets she shouldn't know and letting the rest of the world know of it without Charlie's choice, and of course putting the blame on Ashton. JP had been there protecting Sada and it became a shit show from there, a public scene made in the Atrium as Ashton left the bar to be there for Charlie even if it was a family affair and he didn't belong in it, he promised Charlie he'd be there. Mal was the one who managed to simmer things down between the siblings as they let them take it somewhere private as Mal and Ash looked for Jeremiah but it was perhaps too late when Tony of all people told Jer the news, something he should've heard straight from his family. It was draining to put a stop to it all and let the three siblings talk things through before the party resumed to end the night. Ash stayed on as the last ones to start clean up after everyone else had left the party, expecting to be alone until Jeremiah looked for him for the first time that night.
---- to be updated
