Ashley Hayden

Ashley Hayden is a character in Petty Squabble.

Equipment/Abilities
Ashley was engineered to be a metamorph – a posthuman capable of manipulating one’s body to change one’s appearance as desired. However, due to circumstances detailed below, Ashley’s genetic advantage is severely limited in this manner. In addition to this, Ashley has somewhat enchanced stamina and healing factor, but lower than average strength due to the frequent changes the muscles must undergo when shapeshifting. Ashley also carries two knives for self-defense purposes on a belt slung over the shoulder, which also holds rations and ammunition for a gun long misplaced.

Description
Perhaps some explanation is in order: From a very young age, engineered superhumans begin their training in the very organization that produced their embryos and nurtured them: The Entente Posthuman Training Corps. Ashley was born male. But during his formative early years of cognitive development, he suffered enough stress under the military training that he eventually became a withdrawn child – he would only open up when returning from the ‘Academy’ to his foster home. He found a still, small voice in his mind, speaking back to him. Her name was Ashley, and she was everything he wasn’t – outgoing, personable, charismatic...

Ashley’s shifting is limited because of the stress he underwent as a child – essentially, there are only two forms they can take, excluding some minor details which still can shift as necessary, e.g. eye color. Through general agreement, one form is Ashley’s, the other… is Ashley’s. Shifting also conserves mass.

The first form, Ashley’s, is that of a young adult male, approximately twenty-two years old in appearance, even though he has been alive for at least thirty by now. He has a sullen, angular face which speaks of troubles beyond that of normal man, and often speaks softly, tending to mumble. He tends to listen to others, watching them as they pour out theirtroubles, learning, always learning. People are often uneasy when they see his eyes, which are ordinary hazel…sometimes. They often find themselves wondering whether they were blue or green or some other color a split second ago. He wears grey and black a lot, holding himself stiffly much of the time. You could know him for a year and never see him slouch. His hair would be jet black if he bothered to put conditioner in it. It’s usually dry and rests in impossible-to-comb tangles.

The other form, Ashley’s, is a college-age young adult female. People often wonder why theydidn’t feel uneasy around her – surely no one should have that much vivaciousness? Personality aside, her body resembles what Ashley’s male one would have been, sans Y chromosome. Her chin is sharper than that of (technically) her brother, and so is her tongue, some would say. Her figure is willowy, curving where Ashley’s is straight, and not displeasing. She is very acutely aware of that fact. Despite her own ability to shift making such points moot, she still has a poor body image of herself, and it is usually the only thing that can dim the sunlight of her personality. She did date another posthuman at the Academy, but that ended due to Ashley’s objections. She prefers to dress in red and black and white, claiming that those are ‘her’ colors. Her hair is jet black, straight, conditioned and combed down to her mid-back. Her eyes commonly have red irises, but depend on her outfit. This is one girl who takes clothes seriously.

Biography
Years of therapy did nothing for Ashley or Ashley, and the Posthuman Corps soon conceded that there was likely nothing that they could do. So once he was old enough, they assigned him to Homo sapiens army forces on the assumption that a superhuman would be capable of excelling among inferiors – an assumption that was scientifically proved wrong as he often spent his time hiding from much stronger members of the armed corps who liked beating on those physically weaker than them. Ashley was definitely no fool, and not once since his conscription had he allowed Ashley to take her body – for obvious reasons. The sheer resentment and conflict generated by this was unimaginable; the skirmishes Ashley physically participated in never came close to the mental standoffs he would have against Ashley within his own cranium.