Character Name: Ashley Riot
Series: Vagrant Story
Point in canon: Endgame. (SPOILERS: After the duke's murder.)
Character Background: Once upon a time, Ashley was a respected member of the Kingsguard, which did exactly what the name suggests. He had a loving wife and an adorable son. But then, during a picnic, tragedy struck -- rogues murdered his family. After the shock of the incident, Ashley closed off his emotions and transfered from the Kingsguard to the Riskbreakers, an elite team of the Valendia Knights of the Peace's special agents operating outside the law.

Or maybe...

Maybe, once upon a time, Ashley was an assassin, who grew to regret his line of work after killing an innocent picnicking family. The VKP, unwilling to lose such a skilled operative, implanted him with false memories and put him back to work.

Either way, Ashley's a perfect representation of an action hero. He's big, powerful, skilled with puzzles, and occasionally displays a sarcastic sense of humor. Though his carefully-constructed world begins to fall apart when he's sent to the ruined city of Leá Monde in pursuit of the dangerous cultist Sydney Losstarot, Ashley remains grimly dedicated to his mission. Magical beasts that shouldn't exist? The Cardinal's own special forces? Zombies? Elementals? More political intrigue than you can shake a stick at? Ashley files it away and just keeps fighting on. But piece by piece, the shields around his emotions fall as he begins to explore his connection the magical force known as the Dark, and we're presented with a dedicated and surprisingly kind man, if a bit confused.

Sexual Orientation: Whether or not his wife ever existed, Ashley seems to take the fact that he was married and had a child in stride. Because of this, I feel safe saying he is attracted to women. I don't think he's ever given much thought to men, but that's probably as much due to his programming as an agent to ignore all things emotional and sexual as any preference on his part. That said, I see him as mostly straight, but with the potential for some exceptions.

Sample Post:

The Dark swept through his mind, prickling at the back of his neck and hissing its displeasure. Ashley tried to ignore it as he made his way through the shadowed alleys and forgotten places of the city. There was no particular reason to keep from traveling along the main roads -- no palings raised 'round the city to protect it, no suspicious stares from its inhabitants. But there was something about the glassy-eyed disinterest with which the townspeople regarded him that was distinctly wrong.

He was discomfittingly reminded of the Cold Ones: shambling, hollow-eyed shells. T'was true, these people were clearly yet alive and breathing, but a certain essential force was missing from them.

Part of him itched to perform a heart-seeing, to better understand how this had come to pass. But that was an invasion of privacy he could not find it in himself to justify at this time, no matter how honey-tongued the Dark's urgings had become. He agreed with it, though, that something had to be done to better understand the forces behind this strange city and their reasons for bringing him here. And it did not seem this was the type of situation that would respond well to brandished steel. Reconnaissance, then.

He waited until he thought he had a basic grasp of the acceptable form and dress of the city's inhabitants, then borrowed the form of a plain-looking woman, and stepped out into the streets.