We Love the Women That Fandom Hates - Day 5
It occurred to me that one of the most important aspects of Ashley's character that I haven't covered much yet is her family and how central they are to her life. This is a snippet from Once and Future Heroes, one of the fics I wrote for Yuletide last year, which touches on Ashley's family life. I suspect that fics posted this week are probably supposed to be new and written especially for womenlovefest, but, well, it's been a busy week.
It's a cold day on Amaterasu.
Ashley wraps her coat tighter around her shoulders, shoving her gloved hands deep in her pockets. The starched collar of her dress blues uniform chafes against her neck, her skin prickling more from mental discomfort than from the wind's chill. It feels weird to be wearing something other than her armor or her BDUs.
Then again, a full suit of armor wouldn't be the most appropriate getup for a funeral.
Beside her, Sarah sniffles, bringing up one mitten-clad hand to swipe at her nose. Ashley slings an arm around her little sister, huddling her close against her side. On her other side, Abby, Lynn, and Mom stand silent and still, red-rimmed eyes fixed on the grave. The reverend drones across from them, deep-toned voice a comfort more for the steady rumble of sound than for the actual words.
"Hey." She gently bumps Sarah's shoulder with her own. "I know it sounds really clichéd and all, but you know he's in a better place, right? He's up there all warm and happy, probably trading funny stories with God and having an awesome time. In fact, he might even be looking down on us right now, shaking his head and tsking about how we're all freezing our asses off down here."
Sarah manages a watery laugh. "That sounds like Dad, all right."
The reverend draws to a close, and the crowd begins to disperse, slowly shuffling back toward the skycars parked near the cemetery's entrance. Ashley lingers by the grave, kneeling down next to the freshly engraved headstone. Casting around, she picks up a small rock, uses it to weigh down a piece of paper filled with ink and stained with a few stray teardrops.
"Thanks for everything you taught me, Dad," she murmurs. "I promise I'm going to do everything I can to make the Williams name great again. I won't let you and Granddad down."
Her fingers tighten into determined fists as she rises, turning away to join her mother and sisters at the graveyard's edge.
Though much is taken, much abides.
I realized some time after I wrote this that paper is a rarity in the Mass Effect universe, as nearly all communication takes place electronically via computers, datapads, or other PDAs. But I figure, even in the future, PDAs would likely still be expensive enough that it's not the type of thing you would leave lying at a grave site.
Ashley's dedication to her family is another of the aspects that I find most appealing about her. She's the oldest of four sisters, and helped to raise the three younger ones due to her father's frequent deployments. It's obvious from the way she talks about her family that they're all very close. In fact, if you ask her for her opinion following Liara's recruitment mission, she says she's not sure if she believes Liara's claim that she and her mother are estranged, because "They're family, right?" Her own connection to her family is so strong that she can hardly even fathom family members not being as close as hers are. And of course, she's fiercely protective and defensive of her family's reputation--one of the main reasons she even joined the Alliance military was to try to clear the blemishes on her family's name due to her grandfather's surrendering to the turians in the First Contact War. Her devotion to her family and her determination to uphold their name and honor are further aspects of her character that I think make her both sympathetic and intriguing.
It's a cold day on Amaterasu.
Ashley wraps her coat tighter around her shoulders, shoving her gloved hands deep in her pockets. The starched collar of her dress blues uniform chafes against her neck, her skin prickling more from mental discomfort than from the wind's chill. It feels weird to be wearing something other than her armor or her BDUs.
Then again, a full suit of armor wouldn't be the most appropriate getup for a funeral.
Beside her, Sarah sniffles, bringing up one mitten-clad hand to swipe at her nose. Ashley slings an arm around her little sister, huddling her close against her side. On her other side, Abby, Lynn, and Mom stand silent and still, red-rimmed eyes fixed on the grave. The reverend drones across from them, deep-toned voice a comfort more for the steady rumble of sound than for the actual words.
"Hey." She gently bumps Sarah's shoulder with her own. "I know it sounds really clichéd and all, but you know he's in a better place, right? He's up there all warm and happy, probably trading funny stories with God and having an awesome time. In fact, he might even be looking down on us right now, shaking his head and tsking about how we're all freezing our asses off down here."
Sarah manages a watery laugh. "That sounds like Dad, all right."
The reverend draws to a close, and the crowd begins to disperse, slowly shuffling back toward the skycars parked near the cemetery's entrance. Ashley lingers by the grave, kneeling down next to the freshly engraved headstone. Casting around, she picks up a small rock, uses it to weigh down a piece of paper filled with ink and stained with a few stray teardrops.
"Thanks for everything you taught me, Dad," she murmurs. "I promise I'm going to do everything I can to make the Williams name great again. I won't let you and Granddad down."
Her fingers tighten into determined fists as she rises, turning away to join her mother and sisters at the graveyard's edge.
Though much is taken, much abides.
I realized some time after I wrote this that paper is a rarity in the Mass Effect universe, as nearly all communication takes place electronically via computers, datapads, or other PDAs. But I figure, even in the future, PDAs would likely still be expensive enough that it's not the type of thing you would leave lying at a grave site.
Ashley's dedication to her family is another of the aspects that I find most appealing about her. She's the oldest of four sisters, and helped to raise the three younger ones due to her father's frequent deployments. It's obvious from the way she talks about her family that they're all very close. In fact, if you ask her for her opinion following Liara's recruitment mission, she says she's not sure if she believes Liara's claim that she and her mother are estranged, because "They're family, right?" Her own connection to her family is so strong that she can hardly even fathom family members not being as close as hers are. And of course, she's fiercely protective and defensive of her family's reputation--one of the main reasons she even joined the Alliance military was to try to clear the blemishes on her family's name due to her grandfather's surrendering to the turians in the First Contact War. Her devotion to her family and her determination to uphold their name and honor are further aspects of her character that I think make her both sympathetic and intriguing.