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Ashley Michelle Shepherd
FACE CLAIM: Alexandra Daddario

♦ THE BASICS ♦

AGE: 24
GENDER: Female
ORIENTATION: Demisexual
POSITION: College Student (Undeclared Major)

♦ THE ABILITY ♦

POWER: Remote Biochemical Cascade Manipulation
A biochemical cascade,  also known as a signaling cascade or signaling pathway, is a series of chemical reactions which are initiated by a stimulus (first messenger) acting on a receptor that is transduced to the cell interior through second messengers (which amplify the initial signal) and ultimately to effector molecules, resulting in a cell response to the initial stimulus. At each step of the signaling cascade, various controlling factors are involved to regulate cellular actions, responding effectively to cues about their changing internal and external environments.

In short, it's the process in which a body's biochemical system responds to such things as injuries, illness or other outside stimuli.  It's the method by which a person's body sends the signals to begin growing bone cells to heal a fracture or causes endorphins to release into the bloodstream in order to naturally numb the pain of an injury or even the signals that prompt a body to break down food into nutrients to be passed through the body.  By manipulating the innate brain patterns that control these impulses, Ashley is able to remotely cause an individual to heal injuries, combat diseases or even process poisons or other toxins through the body at an accelerated rate.

Due to the obvious difficulties that come with giving her the time to train her power, Ashley has very limited control.  She is consciously capable of manipulating a target's body in minor and often subtle ways.  While not nearly as effective as most specialized healing powers, Ashley can bolster a target's immune system enabling them to recover from minor illnesses or maladies (common cold, mild flu, inebriation etc) in half the usual time or spur cell growth to heal minor (light cuts, bruises, 1st degree burns) injuries within a few hours while moderate injuries (simple fractures, lacerations, 2nd degree burns) can be healed within a few days.

There are negative connotations to this power, however.  As it can be used to stunt the same, natural processes.  Examples of this include preventing blood from coagulating to stave blood loss due to injury or preventing the body's metabolism from breaking down nutrients to sustain the body's necessary functions.

LIMITATIONS:
- Since this power manipulates only an individual's innate, biochemical impulses it doesn't enhance the target's capacity to perform the prompted functions.  For example, should Ashley attempt to cause a target's body to heal an injury, the target would need to be infused with large amounts of vitamins, proteins and other 'energy' giving nutrients to make up for the increased activity.  Failure to do so could result in the target's body breaking down existing (and possibly necessary) tissue in order to compensate for the increased biochemical activity.  This can cause severe side effects to the target such as rapid muscle loss, decreased bone density and, in extreme conditions, failure of necessary biochemical processes (circulatory, nervous, etc).

- The power can only prompt a target's body to perform normal functions.  It cannot make a body do anything it isn't naturally adept at doing in the first place.  It only manipulates existing processes.

SIDE-EFFECTS:
- Ashley has shown to exhibit traits of a mental disorder brought on by her genetic mutation. These symptoms include abnormal social behavior and failure to recognize what is real. Episodes typically manifest in false beliefs, unclear or confused thinking, auditory hallucinations, reduced social engagement and emotional expression, and inactivity. Ashley's condition is managed through extensive therapy and an aggressive medication plan. While her treatment has reduced the frequency and severity of her psychotic episodes, she is still susceptible to waking dreams, intense nightmares and hallucinations at sporadic times.

- Ashley also suffers from a severe clinical depression also caused by the abnormal way in which her brain processes information. Much like her other disorders, bouts of her depression are managed through therapy and medication. She is still prone to being withdrawn and distant. Her disorders are neurological, not emotional in nature and can be managed, but not cured.

- Overuse of her power can cause headaches, nosebleeds, vertigo and loss of consciousness. In cases of extreme duress, overuse can trigger a manic or psychotic episode with unpredictable results (see previous side effects for details).

♦ THE FREEFORM ♦

- Recorded excerpt from therapy session dated May 29th, 2012

Subject Name: Ashley Shepherd, 15 years old -

The screen flickers on showing a blurred office and a teenage girl sitting in a chair. She brushes her dark hair behind her ear and looks toward the psychiatrist who is off camera. She looks pensive and nervous, as if she understands why she's has to be in the office but doesn't look forward to the discussion she's about to have.

"The anniversary is coming up." The disembodied voice says in a calm, clear manner. The words, in spite of their delivery, make the girl visibly flinch and lower her gaze. "Why don't you run through the events that led up to that day?"

The girl swallows hard and her mouth moves to speak but no words come out. Visibly upset she takes a long, ragged breath and fights back the surge of emotions the long pushed down memories evoke. She brings a hand to her face, wiping her palm across the corner of her eye as she begins to speak.

"Everything was fine. I was just a normal fourteen year old living in a suburb of Seattle. I went to school, I had friends, my parents were divorced but they were on good terms so, I guess it wasn't that bad."

She paused, her eyes shifting to the side as she grew uncomfortable under the watchful gaze of her councilor. "Go on." He urged, his tone soft. "What happened before June first?"

After another moment to get her bearings, the girl continues.

"I started to feel... not right. I didn't want to hang out with my friends, or my family. I started to think that people were always talking about me. Making fun of me. I started to see... things in the shadows at night. I couldn't sleep, or eat. I lied and just said I was sick but after a week my parents started to get worried. They kept trying to talk to me to find out what was wrong and even schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist, but I didn't make it that far. I started to have these... waking dreams where people would say things that didn't make sense. Hallucinations, visions. It was only a week before... it happened that this started. It got worse every day until..."

The girl trails off, the memories bringing about a great discomfort. She shifts nervously in her chair and peers at her councilor expectantly. She knows whats coming, knows exactly what they were going to ask next.

"What do you remember about that day?"

It was a story she'd recounted so many times before and with each telling the details were just hammered more and more into her mind. There were so many blank spaces within the memories but the affects of it all still haunts her every moment.

"That morning was the worst it'd ever been. I kept hearing the voices of the people I thought were my friends taunting me, laughing at me. I just remember being overwhelmed. I just wanted it to stop. I wanted them to leave me alone. that's all I could think of while I walked to school. I started to get mad. Angry that my friends would turn on me like they did. That the world had rejected me." The girl swallows hard. Tears threaten to spill from her crystal blue eyes as they focus upon the councilor.

"I wanted to make them hurt like they'd made me hurt."

---

---

- Recorded excerpt from therapy session dated March 20th, 2015

Subject Name: Ashley Shepherd, 24 years old -

The screen flickers to life. It's the same girl, a couple years older and looking very much like a blossoming young woman physically, but still obviously inwardly drawn and just as nervous as before. Once again, the disembodied voice of the same psychiatrist breaks the silence and causes the girl's eyes, which had been lowered to the floor, to snap up.

"You've been here almost ten years now, Miss Shepherd." The name causes the girl to tense, even after all this time. "Let's go through the changes you've gone through since coming here. Start from when you regained consciousness after the incident so we can chart your progress from then, to now."

The girls swallows hard and takes a deep breath. The rabbit hole in which she'd been instructed to go down was long and dark, filled with treacherous obstacles and terrifying memories. But she wants to be better, needs to be better. So, with hesitation in her voice she takes the step into the abyss.

"I didn't remember doing the things they said I did. The morning was just a... fog. They found me passed out in the library. I woke up in a hospital, strapped to the bed with cops everywhere. I spent that night in jail. No one came to see me except a psychiatrist. He wanted to know why I did it. I couldn't tell him because I didn't know. But the thing is, after it happened, I felt... better. I didn't feel the anxiety and I wasn't paranoid. At the time, I didn't know it was just because my powers manifesting was messing with my mind, I just thought I was... broken."

The girl wipes a tear from her cheek with the sleeve of her olive green sweater and clears her throat. The memories are a bitter pill to swallow but she understands she can't run from them any longer. She accepts a box of tissues and uses one to dab at her eyes before composing herself and continuing.

"I was alone. A recruiter was there by that night.  He was the only one who was on my side.  The only one who knew what I really was and why... those things happened.  It was my power manifesting, not just some mental break.  That didn't stop everyone else, even my family, from looking at me like I was a monster." Her face grows sober once more as she nods faintly. "It was for the best. My family did everything they could to disconnect themselves from me.  They couldn't stand to be associated with someone who did the things I did. They even changed their last name and moved. That was the last I'd heard of them."

Another pause as the girl lets that part of her story sink in. She plucks another tissue from the box and wipes at her eyes. The tears had been flowing steadily as she spoke. The years hadn't eased the pain and burden her memories carried.

"Tell me about your time here at the Academy." The disembodied voice says. This causes the girl to nod and take another deep breath. At least this part of the story promised to be easier.

"It's better than the alternative." The girls says outright with little humor in her voice. "I'm only just now being allowed to go to normal classes.  Ever since I've been here I've been sequestered from the other students.  Still, I keep to myself and prefer to be alone. I like animals, though. They let me get a cat so, it's not so bad. He keeps me company and, really, I don't get lonely. I do alright in class, but I still don't think anyone realizes I'm there. Which is fine with me. I've gotten enough attention in my life. As for my... condition, it's gotten better. I'm on a host of medication, most of which I'm also not allowed to talk about. I can imagine what the other kids in the school would think if they knew the girl who sat next to them in English was taking an anti-psychotic so she wouldn't hear voices. I still have... episodes but they're not as bad as before. I haven't hurt anyone or myself since I've been here, so, that's good. I'm still not allowed to leave campus without an escort and even then I have to request it days in advance so I don't bother. I haven't been outside of the Academy in almost two years."

There was a pause as the councilor processed this information and scribbled down a few notes. "How has the development of your mutant abilities come along since then?" The voice asked. The girl hesitates a moment before reaching a hand up over the desk. Three paper clips drift through the air and begin swirling in slow, lazy loops around her fingers.

"I used to hate it. I used to blame it for what I did.” She says, her eyes watching the small objects as they dance through the air. “But I've gotten used to it and it's coming a lot easier now. I'm nowhere near where I could or should be, but that's fine. It took me a while before I could actually start training so I'm behind. I like it though. It's part of who I am now.”

There is another pause as the girl, who now seems to have a faint smile touching her lips awaits the next question. A question doesn't come, however, but a suggestion.

“I think you've made great strides since you first came here.” The professional, yet soft and comforting voice of the councilor says from off camera. “I noticed you only have one caretaker with you today."  The girl nodded, though she knew 'caretaker' was merely a nice way of referring to the usual trio of trainers who had always been on hand to escort her wherever she needed to go.  "I would wager you're ready to take the next step in your treatment. I want you to try and integrate yourself with the rest of the students here. Try and make a friend or two. See what happens.”

The girl stares at her councilor like a deer caught in a speeding truck's headlights. “I... I don't know how.” She says as the paper clips clatter to the desktop. “Between... everything I don't know where the crazy ends and I begin.”

“I know.” Comes the curt, but understanding reply. “I'm not going to tell you it's going to be easy, but you can do it. I want you to take this list of available clubs for the Academy and choose one to join. Try and get active in something. See where it leads. You never know. You might surprise yourself.”

The girl accepts the slip of paper with the various clubs offered by the Academy printed on it and scrutinizes it skeptically. In the end, she gives a resigned nod.

“Okay. I'll see what I can do.”

♦ THE PLAYER ♦

USERNAME: Puparronit, Pupper, Pups, or just "Hey you, with the face."
AGE GROUP: Don't you know it's rude to ask a Pup his age?
EXPERIENCE: Too goddamn old
WHERE DID YOU FIND US? Random happenstance