Not everyone can say they’ve been to the Big Apple, but [ RIVER ASHFORD ], a [ TWENTY-EIGHT ] year-old [ CISMALE ] has lived in [ PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN ] for [ TEN YEARS ]. This is the city of dreams and [ HE ] knows it, because they came to NYC to be an [ ARTIST ]. Well, that and as an [ EX-BOYFRIEND ] to [ CAMILA CASTANEDA ]. Living in the city means they meet all kinds of people, but everyone always seems to think they look like [ GAVIN LEATHERWOOD ]. They even got away with free cab fare once because of it!
Trigger warnings: mentions of teen pregnancy and injury.
Triggers will be stated before the text containing them.
FULL LEGAL NAME: River Grayson Ashford.
NICKNAME(s): N/A.
AGE: Twenty-eight.
DATE OF BIRTH: July 17th.
NATIONALITY: American.
LANGUAGES: English.
GENDER: Cismale.
PRONOUNS: He/Him.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual, biromantic.
BIRTH ORDER: Only child.
HOMETOWN: North Adams, Massachusetts.
CURRENT RESIDENCE: Brooklyn, New York.
EDUCATION: Bachelors in Fine Arts from Pratt Institute.
OCCUPATION: Full time artist.
MARITAL STATUS: Single.
(teen pregnancy mention tw) River Ashford was born to a seventeen year old Violet Ashford who didn’t want to raise a baby at her age. She was panicked, unsure of what to do. Turning to her own mother, it was then that River’s grandmother, Annie, took him from her and raised him as her own. Coming in and out of his life, River’s mother was never a constant. He knew who she was, but didn’t interact with her far too much save for a few visits here and there. She did her best to make sure to visit on birthdays and holidays, but the relationship was strained. Even at a young age, he didn’t truly understand why she came and went. River’s grandmother, who he constantly called Nana, was truly the one who raised him. This was going to be a constant theme throughout his life, Violet popping in for holidays and birthdays, spending a little bit with him before disappearing once more. Texts and phone calls here and there would happen, but River knew better than to expect more than that. It had left him rather jaded, feeling too many walls throw up to keep people from getting too close. He was one to run first, to leave before he could be left again by anyone. There were hardly many people who truly knew him, who he let in past those walls he had forged. Though, he was convinced his Nana was all he truly needed when it came to a parental figure. He loved her more than anything, extremely close with the woman who raised him the best she could all on her own.
For the first few years of his life, River lived in a small home with the closest neighbor a mile away in the rural area of Massachusetts. It wasn’t until it was time he started school that they moved to North Adams. Upon starting school it was then that people around River started to notice his artistic abilities. He was constantly doodling, always grabbing a piece of paper and putting colored pencils or crayons to it until he made his latest masterpiece. Noticing this, Annie was happy to put him into the after school art program, seeing how he flourished and seemed to really find a passion in the hobby. That hobby would follow River throughout his life. He wasn’t truly the best at math, did enough to get by, but thrived in his art classes. His electives in high school were filled with as many art credits he could get away with, determined to make this his career path in life.
At eighteen, River decided to take the plunge and move to New York City to attend the Pratt Institute. He began the path to a Fine Arts degree with an emphasis on painting. He had always done his best work in painting, it being the medium he had gravitated to starting in middle school before truly realizing how much he loved it. Around a few months living in the city was when he met Camila Castaneda. The woman was beyond amazing, someone he grew close with and fell into a relationship with within a year, her own passion for ballet resonating with him with his own love for painting and art. Relationships never had been River’s forte. He was flighty at best, too used to being ready to dip at the earliest sight of something difficult arising. It was easier just to leave when things got hard, he didn’t want others to see the cracks behind the walls he had put up.
(injury mention tw, broken bone mention tw) River let Cami in the smallest bit, letting the walls crumble somewhat, before he was given a call in the middle of the night from his mother informing him that Annie had taken a fall and broken her leg. Scrambling instantly, he packed a bag and stared at the woman’s who heart he was about to break as she slept. He scribbled down a note, informing him he would be gone when she woke. That he was sorry but he wouldn’t be in New York. It was a shitty way to break things off, but River did what he knew: he ran. Even if it was for a good reason, for a good cause. He could have explained, but…he didn’t. He simply ran.
Moving back to North Adams, River put his education on hold to stay with his grandmother while she healed to take care of her. The older woman constantly tried to push him to go back to the city, that she could get someone to take care of her, hire them even, not to stay with her. He refused, her health more important to him than his momentary pause in his career path. After physical therapy and a clean bill of health, it was Annie who immediately pushed him to go back to New York after almost a year gone from the city. Reluctant, but sure she would be in good hands, River once more moved back to the city.
River finished his undergraduate degree in Fine Arts, focusing on painting. It was then River began to work on commission, trying to make a full time living as an artist. His work constantly bounced between Photorealism and Realism. From there he worked on either trying to sell his current work to various art galleries and commissions through various sites and social media. Primarily working in painting, River occasionally does digital art via commissions to get a bill or two paid. Working as a full time artist didn’t always pay the best, but with his work starting to be featured in a few galleries had him hopeful for the future in being able to finally live on his own and make a true living as an artist.
