Ash Sheridan

Ash Sheridan is a character original to the RP. Sheridan has created an airborne toxin much like Scarecrow’s Fear Toxin, which induces indescribable agony instead. She has spent only a short time as a villain, starting after Batman disappeared. She has a Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Psychology and Criminology, as well as a teaching license. She was working on a research Ph.D when she turned to villainy.

Appearance and Personality
Sheridan is a white woman with dyed blood-red hair and grey eyes. She tends to stick to a color scheme of red, black, and grey. She wears lots of jewellry, and is partial to jackets, and biker style clothing.

Sheridan is a generally cheerful and calm person. She can usually find silver linings to most situations, or some sort of contentment in adversity. She tends to take comfort in small things, like warm drinks and pretty scenery. She is quick to offer support to those who come to her. She craves being an integral part in people’s lives, so often seeks positions of care. Her need to provide can become problematic, as she quickly falls into despair when she feels she has nothing to offer.

She is highly protective of people important to her own life, but will often pretend to care far before she actually does. She does this to make people underestimate her, and let their guard down. She finds enjoyment in power over others, both physically and emotionally. She especially gets pleasure in destroying a relationship she deems unimportant and then managing to make the person come back to her of their own will. She finds the physical and verbal resistance in torture to be tiring, preferring the pleading and despair that comes during and after the effects of her toxin.

Plot
 

Before Gotham
Ash grew up outside of Gotham, and was close friends with Cate Hunter and Izzy Tennant. She does not often talk about her life outside of Gotham, and actively avoids discussing it, due to a tragedy that occurred in her life. She lies about her childhood to everyone except Cate and Izzy. She does not think about her time before Gotham, and actively distracts herself when it comes up. Her close connection and desire to protect Cate and Izzy come from this time, and they are the only connection to her past that she has kept.

Teaching
She moved to Gotham during the times of Batman in order to study and do research on the captured villains. She became a high school teacher during these times, a task which she took very seriously. She found herself entertaining thoughts of villainy while doing her research, and kept to the thoughts for enjoyment. These thoughts were further goaded out by some of the villains she was studying, as they began to pick up on her interest and hidden sadism. The main contender was Jervis Tetch, who has not been mentioned beyond this.

Ash was considered a troublemaker at her teaching job. She worked at a poorly run school, and was very adamant about calling out coworkers she thought were letting the students down. She was not hesitant to deviate from the curriculum in the direction the students took the classes she taught, and demanded effort from her superiors and coworkers. The administration had a hard time finding a reason to remove her, as she was well liked by the students and their families.

Ash as a teacher was no-nonsense. She was happy to talk with all of her students, even during her breaks, but she was very strict about keeping the classroom on task, as well as a safe place. She did not hesitate to individually speak to and deal with “problem” students. At one point, a student fell asleep and started snoring in her class. She woke the student with a spray bottle of water, and when the administration learned of this, she was fired for assault.

Villainy
Ash could imagine doing nothing other than teaching with her life, and had lost sight of her goals for her Ph.D research. She focused on the research, no longer for a greater goal, but to develop her nefarious plotting. Batman disappeared, as well as her connections to past villains. She expected the times of old villains was gone, and did not feel bad about her toxin blatantly copying Scarecrow's. After developing the majority of her pain toxin, Ash set out to test it, and create a name for herself, which in turn led to others, including Scarecrow, doing similarly. She always thought it would be a bit awkward to meet Scarecrow after that.

She had a special talent for avoiding the police, and managed to find a stable home base for herself. She ended up killing a former coworker, and word of her toxin’s torture began spreading around the city just as other strange crimes began rising once again. It is undetermined whether she coined the name Paroxysm, or if it was given to her. She rarely uses it, finding that her own name now causes just as much panic.

Relationships
Allie Moss - Ash quickly found herself with a vendetta against Allie, with very little provocation. She became easily angered by Allie, and wanted to kill her to remove that anger. She realizes now that it was a foolish situation, and mostly regrets it for the emotional strife it has since caused Aleenya.

Coty Logan - Ash thinks that Coty’s aspirations are folly, and that the return of heroes will not come. She antagonized the other quite a bit for it, but found herself truly resenting and fearing Coty after Ash was tortured by her. She is glad Coty has disappeared, and was very frightened by her brief return during Scarlett’s attack.

Jean Arlanda - Ash recognizes that Jean is a good cop and person. Out of the police forces, she likes Jean quite a bit, to the point of seeking protection and support from her during Scarlett’s attacks. She’s still a cop though, so Ash certainly likes their fights.

Jonathan Crane -- While Ash originally had a severe crush on Crane, she now finds him to simply be a source of pretty-looking amusement. She believes him to be petty and oblivious, and gets great joy out of slowly wrapping him around her finger. She holds a lot of restrained resentment towards him, in her attempts to make him reliant on her. However, this resentment shows itself during her hopelessness and in her frequent desire to gas him.

Aleenya Moss - Ash and Aleenya have very different personalities and methods. She finds herself confused and surprised by Aleenya frequently, but finds comfort in Aleenya’s presence. Aleenya is very quickly becoming one of the few people Ash genuinely cares for, and will protect over many others. She has begun to trust Aleenya with her own vulnerabilities, which is a large step for Ash to take.

Cate Hunter - Cate is one of Ash’s friends from childhood. They were once very close, and quickly fall back into the roles of their old friendship. She is willing to set aside her villainy to maintain the relationship, and is very conscious of trying to not hurt Cate’s sense of morality. She does not want Cate to become involved in the dangers of the underground world. Ash would sacrifice most of the other people in her life to keep Cate and Izzy safe.

Izzy Tennant - Izzy is another of Ash’s childhood friends. Her roles are much like those with Cate, but Ash is aware that Izzy lives a little more on the edge. Ash does not want to watch Izzy fall into the underworld, but is ready to support her if it had to happen. She is highly protective of Izzy, as well as Cate, and would take on insurmountable odds to try and maintain their normal and happy lives.

Scarlett Jaide - Ash began to hate Scarlett for kidnapping and threatening the lives of Cate and Izzy. She wanted revenge for her friends’ harm, but after Scarlett’s attacks uprooted her entire livelihood, Ash would just like for Scarlett to disappear for good. She has very little desire to torture the other anymore, and would choose to quickly kill Scarlett so she does not cause any more problems for her.

Fun Facts

 * Ash fears being unable to use her arms to move or catch herself when falling.
 * Since an accident while making her toxin, she also fears having to experience it again.
 * Ash is quick to form grudges, but will work to make sure the other forgets about it until she exacts her vengeance.