Gonna make a series of gifs as i introduce my characters! This is the Third character i Ever made, and He's the most important one I'll ever have. He's also one of the most rounded characters I have. His universe is loosely based on "humans are space orcs" and star trek.
Info and Background under cut. Warning: background is really really long.)
Species: Flora (see: Flora)
Age: 175 (human equivalent: 48-52)
Height: 4"11 (on the shorter side, even for a Floran)
Hobbies: Cooking, Gardening, Musical instrument (floran instrument of the same nature of a hang)
Usual outfits: A Floran robe (depicted) or a faded yellow sweater with cargo pants. both paired with long socks, and black flats.
Unique Features: Large, deep scar across the chest, and several smaller stab scars on the thigh, hip, and shoulder. A slight limp due to late stage Overgrowth, a disability among Florans caused by roots obstructing the joints' movement.
Notes: Ashley’s species is hermaphroditic. When the concept of human gender is explained to them, pretty much all of them identify more strongly with males. As a result, when they speak english, all Flora usually use He/him and/or They/them pronouns.
BG SUMMARY:
Engineer student.
Gets drafted.
Comes back, gets married.
Wife dies.
Becomes part of the mafia, sells and distributes alcohol.
Retires to build spaceships on a distant space station.
Moves back home.
Works at a small bakery
Gets in a relationship with a roguish space pirate
Space Pirate dips on him
Eventually comes out of retirement to join an adventuring crew as an engineer.
BACKGROUND:
He grew up in a small village, staying there for most of his life. About fifty years before the Beta Cluster Alliance contacted Flerr about joining, Ashley saw a ship crash land nearby, told his parents, and a search party helped the survivor. This sparked an intense curiosity for technology and space in him, leading him to put all of his savings into ordering books for him to learn about how to build, repair, and take apart space ships. He taught himself very extensively, planning to become an engineer.
He met a Fauna girl named Maude, and fell in love. He planned to start a family with her as he continued his studies, and even bought a family sized house in a bigger town up north (Drae) in preparation.
His plans were interrupted as he got drafted in a war on his planet against a few specific factions of Fauna, and came back to find Maude ill. He cared for her for two years, and got married to her in that time, but she eventually passed.
In grief, he threw himself into illegal work in the middle of a prohibition era. He, his mother, his uncle, and his cousin all started a small alcohol production and distribution service, getting involved with their more distant cousins in an urban settlement, Grove. These distant cousins, as it turns out, were one of the most notorious Mafias in the area, and provided excellent protection. Ashley's mom and uncle created the goods on the home front in their small town, while Ashley and his cousin Rick stayed in the city to manage the business there.
For a good number of years, Ashley was a sleazy, promiscuous boozer, with little self respect. He started using the money to fund his hobby of collecting, repairing, and refurbishing spaceships. This resparked his interest in becoming an engineer, leading him to leave the business, and pursue his original dream. He tinkered by himself for quite a bit, until the planet was contacted by the Beta Cluster Alliance.
He was around 63 at this point (29-34 human equiv), and contacted the alliance to put himself on a space station to repair space ships, as well as work on his own designs.
They accepted, and he worked in a seedy corner of the space station (cheap rent) among various other establishments, bars, shops, and shady alleyways. He lived in an apartment on the station on the storage deck (cheaper rent) for fourty years.
On his 100th birthday (something to be celebrated), he moved back with his family on Flerr, finding the prohibition lifted, and the business now legalized. He moves back onto his property in Drae, slightly saddened by such a big empty house. He catches up with everyone for a bit, and has a gap consisting of largely drinking and laying in bed, before getting back to work and opening up a small bakery.
Eventually, he finds himself slowly healing from his trauma.
He meets his partner, Blade, in a cafe, and they both start dating for a week or so before Ashley finds out that Blade is a fugitive, wanted on several accounts of theft, murder, treason, possession of banned substances, and illegal spaceship drag racing. Ashley confronts him, and is told that the thieving, illegal substances, and illegal racing was "all him, but in his defense he was just stealing from the disgustingly rich, and having fun," the murder was "completely exaggerated! its mostly a few hired guns I killed in self defense while trying to escape. Killing someone isn't the same as murdering someone!"
Surprisingly, as Ashley isn't a stranger to gang violence himself, having got caught in a few skirmishes back in the prohibition days, he isn't deterred by this. In fact, Ashley seems to swoon at the thought of a rogueish space pirate.
Blade has a habit of breaking hearts when people get too close to him, though. After about three years of them dating, Blade dips, leaving Ashley for about fifteen years.
*A phone rings somewhere. A number given to an audience member. She holds the receiver in her hand, twirling the loops between her fingers. Her hands shake nervously. How can she be doing this, what confidence possessed her to possibly think the great star Mister Ant Tenna would seriously want to talk to her, a lowly audience member.*
*She almost moves to hang up the phone, embarrassed to have even bothered.*
The silence on the other end of the line concerns him.
"Hello? Do you have the right number? This is Mr. Ant. Tenna's TV time...!"
Tenna!! when you said to Kris “I’ll make you enjoy it” it sent a shiver down my spine. I a lowly audience member saw your fangs and it excited me. I wonder what else you’ll make me enjoy. I love TV!!! <3
"I have never said any such thing to Kris. Mike, roll the tape!"
"Oh, and call me. My number is {fictional number here}"
"Well, Addisons tend to get a bit... in my personal space." Tenna says, after a moment of thought. "They're usually interested to see if I have any advertising space left.. or to see if they can score with a big advertiser. Either way, they're a handsy people, around me."
