S090 - Donovan, Ashlee [DECEASED]

#1

Name: Ashlee Donovan
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: 12th
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Cheerleading, anime/manga, video games, cosplay, social media, fashion

Appearance: Ashlee has dark brown curly hair that reaches down to her shoulder blades, with slight side-swept bangs. She typically wears a variety of hair bands, her favorite being fabric tied at the top. More recently she has started wearing hair pieces and extensions as part of her regular wear, usually in subtle pastels.

Her background is a mixture of European and African, which reflects in her dark tan skin tone. She has naturally thick eyebrows that she uses makeup and trimming to shape. Ashlee has a deeply expressive face, which she uses to her advantage in her cosplays. She has large downturned dark hazel eyes, arched eyebrows, bowed lips, and a smaller Greek nose on her heart-shaped face. As someone who has an interest in cosplay and fashion, she is skilled with makeup. A typical look for her features a slight cat-eye, false eyelashes, gentle contouring, and subtle rose-colored lips. Ashlee started wearing acrylic nails to combat a nail-biting problem in middle school, and has continued to wear them even though she’s stopped the habit. The ones she’s currently wearing are a set of peachy pink square ovals, applied the night before the trip.

As a flyer on the school’s cheerleading team, she has a more petite build at 5’2 and 105 pounds, with a rectangular body shape. Her athleticism is reflected in her toned muscles, particularly in her long, flexible arms and legs.

Ashlee is fashion-conscious, with a preference for preppy clothes. However, she occasionally takes inspiration from Japanese fashion trends, particularly more subdued versions of the kawaii and Harajuku aesthetics. She has an assortment of graphic tees referencing geek culture, attention-grabbing accessories, and patterned socks, alongside polo shirts and plaid patterns. During the pandemic, she made a series of facemasks for herself and often took care to match them with her outfits. Ashlee’s outfits tend to use pastel color schemes, with pink being a common color. On the day of the trip, Ashlee wore a pink baggy knit sweater tucked into a pair of dark blue jeans. For shoes, she wore black winter boots with cotton candy pink wool socks. For accessories, Ashlee wore a white fabric hairband, with the knot tied on top, and white knit gloves. She layered a pink pea coat over it.

Biography: Ashlee was born to Parris and Curtis Donovan, as the eldest of two siblings. Parris and Curtis both work at the University of Boston as full-time professors, with Curtis teaching art and Parris teaching theater. Her younger brother, Zachary, is currently 8.

While she was raised fairly latchkey as a result of her parents’ jobs, her formative years were happy. From a young age Ashlee’s sweet-natured, friendly personality shone through, making it easier for her to befriend other children. Additionally, Ashlee’s parents enrolled her in cheerleading in first grade, as they wanted her to take up an after-school activity as enrichment. Ashlee had chosen cheerleading, as she had watched a few movies and television shows depicting cheerleader characters, and, at the time, wanted to emulate them. This not only gave her a physical routine for her health but also a steady friend group. She loved, and still loves, cheerleading because of the social connections and camaraderie that comes with the activity, as teamwork is a major focus in the sport.

Ashlee’s first experiences with costume making came about as a result of Salem’s culture. The town’s culture and history have made Halloweens a particularly notable occasion, as there were many large, extravagant gatherings hosted throughout the month of October, both by the city and by residents. Ashlee enjoyed dressing up and seeing others come in costume, and, by fourth grade began planning out her costumes ahead of time. Around that same year her parents allowed her to take sewing classes over the weekend, which she enjoyed not only because it helped with costume making, but also because she enjoyed the fulfillment of finishing a new project.

Like many children, Ashlee grew up with anime and video games. Throughout elementary she was a fan of the Pokemon franchise, with a slight more interest in the games. The first Pokemon game she played was Pokemon Black, released in 2011. She was enamored with the vibrant colors and the idea of forming relationships with animated creatures, and remains dedicated to the franchise. Additionally, she also liked Studio Ghibli films, with Ponyo, Spirited Away, and My Neighbor Totoro being favorites. As she grew older, she began looking for similar works, and began watching more anime. While Ashlee likes slice-of-life themes and cute aesthetics, nowadays she has branched out into dramas and story-driven narratives. Some of her current fandoms include Mario, Danganronpa, and Madoka Magica.

She became aware of cosplay culture in middle school, and, as someone who already had an interest in costume design, was intrigued. The first time she went to a convention was in 8th grade, where she wore a Rocket Grunt costume. Like her Halloween outings, she enjoyed dressing up and seeing others’ costumes as they socialized and bonded over their respective fandoms. She has since made more cosplays, including Himiko Toga from My Hero Academia, Misa Amane from Death Note, and Junko Enoshima from Danganronpa. Ashlee has a preference for making cosplays of villains because she likes the performance aspect of cosplay as well as the visual, and feels villains often have more dramatic motions and memorable lines. Additionally, she feels that villains tend to have more intriguing designs that are more fun to recreate. Ashlee has encountered some of the more toxic sides of the community, such as people claiming that cosplayers must have certain skin tones or body types to dress as specific characters, or people who behave inappropriately toward people in costume. However, Ashlee has, over time, learned to navigate these issues, and is generally good at advocating for herself when people are behaving negatively towards her.

Like many cosplayers, Ashlee took to social media, with TikTok and Instagram being favorites. Many of her uploads have her in costume, usually acting out sketches or lip-syncing to popular memes that are applicable to the character she’s dressing as. She has also done out-of-costume uploads, sometimes jumping on current trends. She enjoys uploading to social media as she feels it’s a great way to further show off her cosplays in new and creative ways; as someone into the performance aspect, she likes being able to act out the roles of the characters she’s dressing as.

One side benefit of her interest in cosplay is that it also gave Ashlee more experience with fashion design, as working closely with makeup and textiles has made her more aware of aesthetics, character designs, and the various ways they can be achieved in real life. Ashlee is less into following trends and more into exploring her own style. She has used some of her cosplay knowledge into designing her own makeup styles and outfits, such as how to apply false eyelashes, how to subtly contour and contrast, and how to use hair pieces. Ashlee has admitted that some of her dress sense does come from otaku culture, whether from contemporary Japanese fashion or designs seen in anime. In addition to informing her dress sense, Ashlee keeps a notebook full of cosplay and outfit ideas, along with collages of various characters and fashion items for inspiration.

In sophomore year, Ashlee came across an abandoned kitten nearby her house, and tried befriending it. While the kitten was scared at first, with coaxing and offerings of food it became receptive to Ashlee. When she brought it home to her parents, they were concerned about having an animal in the house, but let Ashlee take care of it until they could schedule an appointment for it. The cat was determined to be underweight but otherwise healthy at the clinic, and was unmicrochipped. Additionally, it was determined to be a female of the Norwegian Forest Cat breed. The Donovan family tried to find the cat’s owner, to no avail. Eventually, they decided to take her in as a pet, taking the time to socialize her. Ashlee was delighted by this, as she’d always loved cats but never had one before. The family settled on the name Freya, after a Norse goddess. It took her some time before Freya was able to adjust to the household, especially after being alone for so long, but has become a loving member of the family.

Ashlee experienced a cheerleading injury in junior year. After doing flying stunts at a major cheerleading event at school, she began experiencing lower back pain. At first she thought little of it, since it was normal for her to feel some aches after stunts. However, over the next week the pain got worse, to the point of her being unable to do much of her regular routine. Her family scheduled a doctor’s appointment, and Ashlee was diagnosed with spondylosis, a stress fracture in her vertebrae. While the condition was easy to recover from, it meant for the rest of the school year she was not allowed to participate in any further cheerleading on doctor’s orders. She was also asked to wear a back brace, take medication, and have physical therapy as part of her treatment. Ashlee was devastated by the news, especially since she wouldn’t be able to spend as much time with her friends. It wasn’t helped that the COVID-19 pandemic hit while she was recovering, leaving her more isolated. The combination of a mass pandemic and a personal injury affected Ashlee’s mental health, since, as someone who is extroverted, she felt increasingly more lonely. She experienced symptoms of situational depression during this time period, which she tried to keep at bay by staying in contact with her friends from school, paying extra attention to Freya, and, once she felt well enough, doing more cosplay TikToks. However, she continued to feel depressive episodes even after classes went back to in-person, as it took her more time to adjust back to her normal routine.

After returning to campus, Ashlee was able to resume cheerleading, as she had healed enough that her doctors gave her the all-clear on continuing her normal activities, as long as she took safety precautions. While Ashlee’s back feels largely fine now, she still feels some aching, particularly after strenuous physical activity. On her doctors’ recommendations, she has been asked to take more breaks than she would normally, in order to prevent another accident that would be worsened by her medical history. Ashlee still does flying stunts, but has taken extra safety measures and has asked her teammates to do the same.

Ashlee is considered part of the popular crowd at school, as her sweet personality, focus on fashion, and role on the cheer team have endeared her to her classmates. While there have been people who find her open interest in anime, video games, and cosplay cringe, Ashlee is self-assured enough that any insults tend not to stick with her for too long; while she is still feeling some situational depression, Ashlee generally has a strong core identity and would politely stand her ground when any disagreements come up, as well as being good about advocating for herself. If someone dislikes her, typically she feels bad but doesn’t take it too personally if it’s just a clash of personalities or opinions. This strong-willed side of her can sometimes make her come off strongly in spite of her politeness, which has sometimes made people intimidated by her. Because she goes out of her way to be as friendly to as many people as humanly possible, this can also make her come off as pushy to more introverted and shyer students who don’t relate to her more social, extroverted personality. That said, Ashlee tends to be the type to see the best in others, as she is generally empathetic and wants to hear people out. Unfortunately, this means that, in the past, people have taken advantage of her kindness, as Ashlee has thought that they had better intentions than they actually did. People have tried to remind her that she shouldn’t be so naive about others’ motives, but she has a hard time not empathizing with others who she sees as needing help. Because she spends a lot of time with both the popular crowd and the more geek culture crowd, she often works as a bridge between the two when there are any problems between the two groups. As a student, Ashlee typically gets Bs, with English and P.E. being her best core subjects.

At home, Ashlee gets along fine with her family. While they have also been affected by the pandemic, Curtis and Parris especially having some difficulty with teaching remotely, the family has gotten by. Sometimes Ashlee has to take care of her little brother Zachary, which frustrates her at times. However, she is dedicated to being a caring older sister to him.

Ashlee has been funding her cosplays by working at Slice Slice Baby, and has remained a dedicated employee, even after returning to her shifts once the restaurant resumed normal hours. Her plans after high school are to get a career in fashion design, costume-making, or both, as she has plenty of experience in both areas.

Advantages: Ashlee is inherently a sweet-natured person, which will make people more at ease around her, especially since she’s social and generally well-liked. She is physically fit from cheerleading. Because she has experience with making her own cosplay, she has an understanding of materials, as well as good hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Ashlee has a solid core identity and is self-assured enough that someone disliking or disagreeing with her wouldn’t affect her as significantly.
Disadvantages: Ashlee is generally naive, sensitive to others’ experiences, and expects the best from people, opening her up to potential manipulation. She can come off as pushy due to being the type of person to try befriending everyone, as well as her self-assured personality potentially coming off too strongly. While she has largely recovered from her spondylosis, she still has flare ups which she would need to take care of. Ashlee is still dealing with the emotional aftermath of quarantine and her injury, which can impact her mental health in the game.

Designated Number: Student No. 090

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Designated Weapon: Tanegashima (gun)

Conclusion: You have neither God nor anime on your side. - Cecily Lacoste