Ashleigh Yorkward (Ver. 2.0)

Ashleigh Yorkward
Portrayed By	Christopher Sylvest
Gender	Male
Race	Homo Sapiens Superior
Date of Birth	June 3
Age	20
Zodiac Sign	Gemini
Alignment	Chaotic Neutral
Aliases	Ash, "Ashleigh Awkward," "Karma"
Place of Birth	New York, New York
Current Location	New York, New York
Occupation	Sophomore at Columbia University; Unemployed
Known Relatives	Madison Yorkward, father; Artemisia Felan, mother; Tracy Yorkward, grandfather (paternal); Evalisse Quintanilla, grandmother (paternal)
Significant Persons	n/a
Known Abilities	Fortuity Manipulation
Appearances	none (Rejected from MMD)
Creation Date	January 25th, 2008

PROFILE BLURB HERE

History

Basically, he's a brat.

The Yorkward family owns a small restaurant, the Charisma, in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Tracy Yorkward's father (and Madison's grandfather), Vivien Yorkward, was the founder of the establishment, and its ownership has passed down among the men of the family since, with Madison being the current owner. It is a profitable establishment despite its size, allowing the family to indulge in a fairly comfortable lifestyle. The family home is built atop and behind the restaurant proper.

Ashleigh is the only son of Madison Yorkward and Artemisia Felan; by blood he is three-quarters Hispanic, though his appearance belies it. He is the latest generation in a long family tradition of bestowing (nearly) sexually ambiguous names, which is not, in his views, much of a blessing. As a child—in fact, nearly from birth—he was teased by his peers for his "girly" name, something which bore heavily down on his self-esteem. Though healthy, lithe, and quick at a run, Ash was gangly from a young age and not very muscular, earning him the teasing nickname "Ashleigh Awkward." Ashleigh chose to combat his low self esteem—and his bullies—through violence, both verbal and physical. He preferred shouting matches over scuffles, and was quick to run should things get too heated. The bigger and older boys labeled him both a coward and a weakling for this, though his teachers praised him for at least attempting to keep things to words rather than fists. It was not Ash's intention to be a "teacher's pet," though this ended up being the relative result anyway through his early education. This only earned further contempt from Ash's classmates—and smugness on his part, since the teachers would frequently believe his side of events in conflict situations, whether or not he was actually telling the truth.

It was in junior high that Ashleigh grew to truly hate school. There were two reasons for this, each as hateful in his eyes as the other. One, Ash's grades were generally abysmal. He excelled in Art and did quite well in English, and his speed and limber frame aided him in Physical Education, but all other subjects were nearly impossible for him to grasp. His difficulty with numeric figures was so great that any classes involving numbers—the dates of history, calculations of science, and measurements of technical studies—were hellish for him. The second reason was the idiocy of the girls his age. Every one of them were as bad as his nagging grandmother or as sickeningly sweet as his doting mother, or worse than both. He hated every one of them, and saw no difference between those that taunted him and those few who flirted.

Ashleigh was thirteen and in the eighth grade, having barely passed in his studies to that point, when he decided he had had enough. After failing to convince his mother to allow him to stay home for a third day running, Ashleigh reached the end of his tether in gym class. He missed a return in volleyball, and one of his teammates, a Dan Michaels, taunted him with the old "Ashleigh Awkward" nickname. Ash immediately turned and swung, catching the other boy in the jaw and sending him tumbling backward. As luck, or lack thereof, would have it, Dan's stumble caught the heel of his sneaker in the weighted base of the net, and the awkwardness of the fall badly broke the boy's ankle. Ashleigh was suspended. His mother, rather than punish him, withdrew him immediately from the school and set to trying to find him a private academy.

During the short period in which Ash was out of school, he took the time to consider his circumstances. Though he was furious at the imminent insertion into a private school, over protests that he wanted no schooling at all, he did realize that he was infinitely lucky not to have been punished by his mother, charged by Dan's parents, or actually expelled by the school. This led him into deeper thought back on his life, and he began to see a pattern of luckiness, which was too strong considering to be mere luck or coincidence. It was at this point that Ash began to experiment with luckiness, trying to make himself more or less lucky simply by thinking about it. He tested these experiments by instigating arguments with his grandmother, most of them in Spanish, and gauging the results of whose favor the fights ended in. After awhile, he tried doing the same thing with his family members as he had to himself—changing luck. To his pleasure and surprise, it worked. Despite having no idea that this was a mutant power, and no real clue as to how it worked, Ash was able to force people to become luckier or unluckier. At this point, it was a gradual process, and Ash had to force the luck in or out of a person in small increments over the course of several days. It was hard, but it worked, and Ash saw that as small recompense for his future entry into private school.

Ash was eventually enrolled in the Browning School, an all-male establishment not far from the Yorkward home. Before he was accepted, however, it was advised that the boy see a counselor, citing the reasons behind his removal from his previous school. Ash remained tight-lipped and angry, furious with his mother for attempting to force him into a uniformed, all-boys school. The counselor referred the boy to a psychologist, who eventually got Ashleigh to admit his frustrations with his schoolwork. Ash was discovered to have dyscalculia, a math-and-number-based learning difficulty or disability related to dyslexia. It was suggested that, with help and remedial courses, Ashleigh could work to overcome parts of this disability, and that in the meantime his schedule for the coming year could be adjusted to better accommodate his difficulties.

At first, Ash was resentful of the suggestion that he was less than capable of learning on the same curve as other boys his age. When he discovered the benefits of the schedule accommodations, however—including fewer math courses and an increase in the arts, to which he had always had an affinity—he began to research and work on overcoming his dyscalculia. Greater functions and more complicated equations continued to elude him, larger numbers remained unintelligible, and he never did properly learn to read an analog clock without serious concentration, but he was at least able to reach a basic understanding on the level of pre-algebra by the time he finished high school, skipping true algebraic classes altogether, though he did manage to scrape through plane geometry.

High school as a whole was much more enjoyable for Ash than junior high had been. Rules were stricter, which bothered him so far as his own doings were concerned, but it kept him from being bullied so much as he had been in public school. It was during these four years that he continued to develop his interest in art, briefly joined the track team (though he quit after one trimester for the sole reason of not wanting to waste his time at after-school practice), and developed a few other key interests.

As Browning was an all-boys school, Ash was free from having to put up with the inane antics of teenage girls, one thing for which he was always deeply thankful, even during his resentment of the private school itself. Without the distraction of girls either flirting with or taunting him, Ash began to notice something beyond simply relief at their absence. While the other boys in his class were talking about this or that girl from this place or that, Ash found himself having similar thoughts to the subjects of discussion—about his classmates. Gym class became an almost uncomfortable affair, as Ash strained himself in not eyeing up the other boys. He was caught only once, in the tenth grade, and slugged for it, earning Ash a black eye and earning the other boy—violent by record—an expulsion. While some of the boys believed that Ashleigh had been looking, and were disgusted by it, others were simply impressed that Ash had taken a hard hit and stood up without hitting back. Ash had hit back, however, with a furious lash of luck removal, and the boy, James Mason, was rejected by all other private schools and forced to attend a public school for the rest of his high school career, much to the disgust of his parents.

There were two boys whom Ash trusted enough to divulge this secret to: a tall black boy by the name of Darick Richards, and a heavily muscled young man called Ramsey Winston, both of whom Ash had met as members of the track team. Neither believed him, of course, demanding that the other boy prove it. Ash spent the next year doing so, telling his friends whenever he was making anyone luckier or unluckier. By this point, Ashleigh had slowly begun to develop an ability to "know" how lucky people were, to an extent, and so he could tell when his power was working. All of his claims were followed by incidents of grief or grace, and soon, Ramsey and Darick had little choice but to believe him. It was Darick who gave Ash the name Karma, an alias that the trio used jokingly whenever referring to someone who "got theirs" as a result of Ashleigh's wrath or was helped along by his good graces. The unlucky numbered many greater than the lucky, though, and a few of the more superstitious boys went out of their way to avoid angering the trio as though in fear of divine intervention.

One boy, though, was intrigued by the odd occurrences, as well as by the rumors of what had gotten James Mason kicked out, which were still circulating a year and a half later. The boy, Simon Temple, one year older than Ash and his two friends, began stopping the trio in the hallway "just to talk," moving to get in line for lunch at the same time, asking to join the three after school. Ash, Darick and Ramsey indulged the other boy; Simon was doing no harm, he wasn't as annoying as he could be, and he was a lot bigger than all three of them. Eventually, Simon invited Ash to "do something after school" while Darick and Ramsey were in track practice. Again, Ashleigh indulged the other boy. It was only when the two were alone in the boy's home that Simon confessed an attraction to Ashleigh. Ash, more than anything, was surprised at himself for not being very surprised at the confession, nor altogether averse to the notion. The two began seeing each other semi-romantically, and, before long, sexually. The relationship ended on an amiable and expected parting-of-ways after the school year ended, as the newly-graduated Simon went across country to attend summer college courses. Though that was Ash's only steady relationship during his high school years, he did entertain more than a few other sexual encounters in his senior year. And while his relationship with Simon allowed Ashleigh to call himself openly gay at school, he knew better than to mention his "sexual deviance" to his Catholic family.

Through his successes in studio art, English and his foreign language choice, Spanish (which he knew fluently from his home life regardless), Ash was able to scrape a grade ranking just above the middle of his class in his senior year. Though he expressed an interest in art school, his parents refused to pay for tuition to any such institution, on the grounds that "artists can't make real money in the real world," and "don't make any real contribution to society." Eventually, and with some frustration, Ashleigh ended up simply applying to the same college as Ramsey and Darick—Columbia University. Currently, he is in his sophomore year at the school as an undeclared studio art major. He continues to live with his family during breaks and on multiple random occasions throughout the year, though he does share an apartment with Ramsey and Darick not far from the university.

Personality

Ashleigh is, in short, a punk. He has no real driving force behind his motives other than an interest in his own independence and individuality. He does things for one of only a few reasons: to further his own interests; to preserve his own individuality; to stir things up; or simply to see what will happen. In fact, as he has honed his mutant power, he's slowly become a considerable troublemaker. He does not so much enjoy getting into trouble as he does creating it for others, however. Ashleigh is an instigator. It is a great amusement of his to create mischief, trouble, ruckus, panic, anything he can get away with, and then sit back and watch the show—hopefully ending up completely unassociated with whatever he began.

The strongest part of Ashleigh's notable personality is his charisma. Though he is extremely lazy, inherently unreliable and often untrustworthy, he knows how to present himself as incredibly personable and easy to get along with. His natural charm can put him in immediate favor with new acquaintances, which is a helpful counterbalance to his reputation. There are those who can see through his "innocent act," though his mutant abilities and inherent charisma seem (so far) more than adequate in getting him out of any trouble that does manage to associate itself with him.

Ashleigh finds amusement in most things, as he is able to see all (or at least most) sides of a particular issue and choose the one with the least moral baggage and the greatest offer of entertainment. This amusement does not extend to his own shortcomings, however, and though he may laugh off a joking barb, he will often become angry and defensive if insulted or otherwise incensed.

Powers

Fortuity Manipulation

Running on the apparently accurate concept that luck is an indestructible quantity (like matter), Ashleigh has found that he has the ability to transfer or move the amount of luck that one person, place, creature, or object has to another vessel. He doesn't fully understand his powers, but knows he is able to make things either more or less lucky. Since luck is a constant quantity, it is drawn from its surroundings to concentrate in a single subject or is diffused from the subject back into its surroundings. The basic status of all luck is that (most of the time) nothing is naturally luckier or unluckier than the things around it. Sentient action is the exception to this rule.

The nature of luck is fluid. If a lucky person experiences lucky circumstances, he or she will become somewhat more lucky – the same is true in the reverse. Luck levels act in a generally diffusive manner, always making an effort to equalize themselves. Ashleigh's gift lies in the fact that he can defy the natural order of things in terms of luck and force it to affect whatever subject he chooses. Currently, he must be within 50 feet of a person to manipulate his or her luck, or within 10 feet of an object. Ash most often only chooses to use his powers on other people or himself. Ashleigh's enemies meet with often twisted and ironic turns of fate while those in his favor reap all the benefits of pure good luck. This adaptation has earned him the nickname "Karma" among his few friends. While he can change his own luck, he finds it far more difficult than changing the luck of others. The luck of mutants are often more difficult to control than the luck of true (or 'pure') humans. The luck of objects, which is uninteresting to Ash, is additionally more difficult to manipulate.

Part of Ashleigh's mutation is the ability to sense relative levels of luck, though it's less developed than his ability to transfer the quantity. When he moves from place to place he senses differences in the luck levels of his surroundings like an average human senses difference in temperature: a few degrees go mostly unnoticed, but dramatic differences are obvious. His ability to sense the inherent luck levels of people and objects is the inverse from his ability to manipulate them: it is far easier for him to sense the inherent luck of an object than the inherent luck of a person. However, the area for this remains the same: generally, he must touch an object to sense the amount of luck it is imbued with, while he can sense a person's luck from range.

While Ashleigh's power is almost entirely an active one, he does not possess full or perfect control over it, and extreme changes in his mood can cause his power to activate on its own. For example, a flash of anger can cause him to unintentionally lower another person's luck, while intense fear causes him to draw an inordinate amount of luck out of his surroundings and into himself.

Strengths/Skills

[Culinary Proficiency] Ashleigh's greatest skill, oddly enough, is his aptitude for cooking. He picked up quickly on this family gift, his unusual luckiness ensuring that the majority of his culinary whims turn out greatly for the better.

[Bilingual] Ashleigh speaks fluent Spanish, learned as a natural second language at home. Both parents and each of his paternal grandparents speaks in Spanish as often as English, so Ashleigh picked the pair of languages up relatively evenly.

[Social Graces] Considering his family background, it's likely no surprise that Ashleigh knows how to act in a "proper" situation, such as among higher classes or in a fancy to-do—despite the fact that he more often than not chooses not to do so.

[Sprinting] Ashleigh is a natural sprinter. Though he spent only one trimester on a track and field team, and though he prefers to be lazy, he does go on the occasional run to keep himself in shape. He doesn't have the stamina for continued long distance; he prefers instead to sprint in short bursts between walking. He is extremely fast when he does sprint, however, and this has helped him escape more than one nasty situation, though most of them occurred while he was younger.

Weaknesses/Shortcomings

[Dyscalculia] Ashleigh has extreme difficulty with mathematics and numbers. His particular problems include difficulty in telling certain symbols apart (+ vs. X, S vs. 5), the inability to read an analog clock (due to the inability to associate the hour-intervals with their corresponding minutes), and difficulty reading number/letter sequences (monetary amounts, bus numbers, subway stops), among other similar issues that may present themselves.

[Limited Strength] While Ashleigh is a strong runner, he has little physical strength in his upper body. Though he is not too weak to perform normal everyday tasks, he certainly would be in trouble if engaged in a fistfight or tasked in heavy moving or lifting.

[Low Self-Esteem] Ash's problems with self-esteem make him extremely susceptible to both praise and criticism, responding to the first more warmly than necessary and to the second with defensiveness and anger. Flattery goes instantly to his head, while insults earn very long-held grudges.

[Temper] Ash has been known to fly off the handle. His temper is most often released in shouting, cursing, and lash-outs with his power. He has to get considerably angry before resorting to physical violence, but he will strike if provoked enough.

Equipment and Resources

As Ashleigh is a current student in college, his parents (his mother particularly) still consider him to be "living at home." They pay for his schooling, his food, the rent on his apartment, and his school and art supplies, and give him a large allowance in addition. Occasionally, Ash will take payment for his sketches, or offer commissioned work to his classmates in order to make a bit of extra cash.

Physical Appearance

Ashleigh is a tall, lanky young man, just out of his teens. Though once very stick-like and gangly, he has filled into the slight muscle of a runner. He has short, very dark blond hair, blue eyes, a sharply-featured face, and skin that is neither tan nor fair. His style of dress ranges from tattered t-shirt and pants, sometimes apparently from the nearest dumpster, through a broad spectrum ending at buttoned shirts and ties, depending on the occasion, his destination, his business, and of course whatever mood happened to strike him upon his rolling out of bed. One is more likely to see him in jeans and random t-shirts than slacks and polo shirts, however.

Trivia

• REJECTED.

Rejection notice.

In the Marvel Universe as we understand it, luck is not fluid in a
manner in which you can simply take it away. Looking at past canon
precedents, those with probability manipulating capabilities have only
been able to temporarily shift probably in their favor.

In addition, only one canon character to date can shift probability to
negatively affect targets. That said, even shifting probability to
one's advantage generally comes with inevitable serious repercussions.

This being a Marvel Themed game and probability manipulation being a
generally restricted ability, we would ask that you rethink this
particular power set. We would prefer it if you either conformed to
the ideals already set into place by Marvel or choose a different
ability altogether. Unless that is, you can find some example within
the Marvel Universe of probability being manipulating in such a way as
you describe to set our minds at ease.

While we are not saying that your suggested power does not sound
plausible enough or that we are necessarily absolutely correct in our
analysis of this ability type… it simply does not go along with
Marvel's conventional views of luck and probability as we have
interpreted them.

Even excluding the above arguments, luck is such a speculative concept
on its own that it can be incredibly, incredibly difficult and risky to play in an RP-type
setting.

-Billy

• The re-app was accepted! It is here.

• Theme Song: [APPLICABLE??]

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