Ashley Levinson
| Ashley M. Levinson | |
|---|---|
| Levinson at 29. | |
| IC Information | |
| Use Name: | Levinson, Ashley Miriam |
| Gender/Sexuality: | Female/Lesbian |
| Species: | Human |
| Place of Origin: | Peoria, IL, USA |
| Age/Birthdate: | 29 (September 9, 1987) |
| Zodiac Sign: | Virgo |
| Height: | 5'7" |
| Hair Colour: | Brown |
| Eye Colour: | Dark green |
| Romantic Status: | Single, Open |
| Romantic Identification: | Polyamorous, picky, disclosed |
| Occupation: | Architect |
| Preferences | |
| Likes: | Water, good books, music, science fiction, designing things, interesting architecture, bagels, pickled food, intelligent women, politics, classical cultures, psytrance, drum & bass |
| Dislikes: | Libido freaks, the religious right, crowds, being touched, pork, wearing skirts, being intimate with just about anyone, jugs of milk |
| OOC Information | |
| Source: | Original Character |
Ashley M. Levinson is an architectural genius from Peoria, Illinois who took up residence in Yuriba in early April of 2007. She seems in most respects to be an ordinary girl, though now and then a magical artifact will appear in her possession. Her most prized piece of property seems to be her flute, which she can often be found playing.
Contents |
Character
Levinson's personality has changed somewhat since her first stay in Yuriba. She remains at heart an intelligent and modest young woman from the American heartland with a generally steady, affable personality and a relatively social nature despite self-identifying as a geek. Though she is sociable and friendly to most, she is quiet by nature, moreso than when she first came to Yuriba, and spends more of her time caught up in introspective than before. She is a cautious person and tends to consider every move she makes thoroughly, and she makes a conscious effort to keep her emotions under control due to bad experiences with flights of fancy in her past.
She is a bit self-conscious about her own figure and has been known to joke about her proportions, though not to the point of being depressing about it. While Levinson is soft-spoken and quiet she tends not to be angsty; she prefers not to let her negative feelings show. This does not extend to irritation or anger, though she rarely shows them. When it comes down to it she is quite forward about expressing her opinions, particularly when it comes to loud people or the overly flirtatious. She looks with a jaundiced eye upon most potential suitors and will often openly mock anyone she considers insincere or vapid.
An accomplished flautist, Levinson enjoys playing the instrument both at home and in quiet public places, and she is not above using it as a hook to catch people's interest. She is fond of classical music and, bizarrely, darker electronic genres, though those tend to come through the Diskman she brought along with her. She is an avid reader of fiction and loves fantasy novels, even going so far as to research the topics extensively. Myth, history, and ancient civilizations are fascinations of hers. She enjoys swimming and taking long walks either by herself or in the company of a friend. As well, she is fascinated by lakes, seas, rivers, and oceans, and she adores dolphins and other cetaceans. She considers dolphins as intelligent as humans.
She studied engineering back in Illinois and holds a bachelor's degree in the subject; she is qualified enough as an architect to design and construct homes with relative ease and even assist in the design of huge structures. In fact she is something of a prodigy, as despite her young age she was able to earn her degree before most in her age group by skipping two grade levels. Her IQ is well above genius-level.
Spirituality
Levinson is ethnically Jewish but considers herself nonpracticing, having broken with her old religion when she began to self-identify as a lesbian. She has historically identified as an agnostic even though she maintains a few Jewish cultural traditions, most notably observing kashrut when she's able. Recently she has been having religious experiences related to Yuriban animism but has not converted.
History
Levinson is the daughter of accountant Saul Levinson, originally of New York, and his wife Goldie, a stay-at-home mom. Born in Peoria, she was the first child for the young couple - and as an only child, the last. As an infant she developed uncommonly quickly, learning to walk and talk well before most of her peers. By age three she could read a newspaper, though not really understand it. By first grade she could already handle math at a level five years ahead of her peers. That said, she counterbalanced her budding genius with crippling social awkwardness and a complete ignorance of how people's minds actually worked. Her efforts to be outgoing largely fell flat, as she'd usually come across awkward and unknowingly annoy people. Accordingly she was the designated bully target among her fellow students for several years before she finally picked up a bit of self-confidence - largely by connecting with a more popular girl through their mutual love of music - and started to shrug it off.
Though Levinson's parents were by most measures a loving pair, she didn't really have much in common with them. She chafed a little at their lifestyle - both were highly devout Jews, whereas Ashley found the family's regular trips to the synagogue more a hassle than anything. The gulf widened as she reached her teenage years and discovered she was a lesbian. She worried particularly about how her mother would accept her and decided not to come out, instead hiding the knowledge for years. Living a secret life took its toll on her, and she began to draw inward again between bouts of slipping out at night to visit her girlfriend - and then another girlfriend down the line.
On the academic front, Levinson skipped two grades in high school and applied to college early. She went on to study architecture at a college in Chicago, just barely finishing up a three-year undergraduate program before Yuriba came a-calling.
Yuriba
Miss Levinson arrived in Yuriba completely by accident on April 7, 2007. She'd been bound for Japan, but while she slept aboard a transport ship the boat sailed through a corner of the Devil's Triangle. When she awoke she found herself lying in a forest glen in Yuriba with her belongings arranged neatly around her in a little spiral. Initially alarmed by the transition, she adjusted to the situation fairly quickly once she found a mechanism through which to leave should she so desire.
Her early experiences with Yuriba were not entirely encouraging; she experienced difficulty finding people to talk to beyond a few isolated instances. She experienced a brief fling with the mysterious Jaye, encountering the young woman at the springs on the slope of Engetsu-san, but has not seen her since and harbours only friendship towards her. Beyond that she was somewhat reclusive, wandering the island and spending a great deal of time in the village library, learning about Yuriba and its geography and customs. Her understanding of Yuriba blossomed in particular when she encountered the water dryad Miki at the shrine on Akibimi-san. The two got along fairly well in their first meeting and struck up a friendship despite neither completely understanding the other. In between her meetings with her friend Levinson spent time seeking out a suitable location for a home and plotting out architectural plans for when she did find a spot. She ended up living by a cove somewhere on the west side of the island, accessible by portal.
She encountered the former model, Mihae. The two struck up a fast friendship, and though Levinson found herself somewhat nonplussed by the other woman's flirtations she considers her one of her closest friends on the island. Their friendship blossomed into a full-blown attraction, though Levinson considered their relationship more a fling than anything; nevertheless she found herself enjoying having a girlfriend for once. Nevertheless she brought the relationship to an abrupt halt fairly quickly for a myriad of reasons, and began to identify as single again.
Difficulties struck her during August of her first year, as a storm-borne wave flooded and destroyed her coveside home. Though Levinson was discouraged by the loss she has since constructed a new home for herself on the shore of the Yuriba River. And in early September she encountered Kathrian, whom she quickly befriended; this friendship seems to have come to an end, however.
She left Yuriba in November 2007, profoundly disturbed by her encounters with Jaye, Mihae and Kathrian and convinced that while she had to grow up a bit, Yuriba was not the place to do it.
Year in Dubai
Upon leaving Yuriba Levinson returned to Peoria, where she began applying for jobs in her field. Her work took her to Chicago, where she helped design an office tower, before being sent to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates under an exchange agreement. There she was part of the design team for a modest skyscraper, capitalizing on the business growth in the Arab world. Her disgust with Yuriba led her to swear off relationships, though she did briefly flirt with a man her own age in her social sphere; it never went anywhere, though. Ultimately she put relationship thoughts aside entirely and focused on her work in Dubai, making waves in the company with her prodigious talent for design.
Yet as the summer began Levinson found herself experiencing strange dreams and compulsions. She dreamed frequently of Yuriba - not its people, but the island itself. More and more the land itself seemed to call to her. She ignored it as forcefully as she could possibly manage, having no desire to return to the island where all life is female. Ultimately a September dream of a dark-haired woman clad in oak leaves and white roses had a profound impact on her, seeming to awaken a deeper interest inside her. Nevertheless it was with trepidation that she began looking for ways to return to Yuriba, resolving to at least check it out after her work in Dubai was finished.
Back to Yuriba
By the end of November Levinson was no longer needed in the UAE. Though she could find no way back to Yuriba, she eventually fell asleep on a plane and woke up in the Faerie Circles with her belongings laid out around her. She began dividing her time between the Yuriba Free Library and the Isolated Shrine, trying to figure out who the lady from her dream was. A conversation about it with breisleach led her to begin recording her dreams, and she can currently be seen poring over a notepad full of far-flung dream interpretations which have begun to come together into a cohesive picture.
Relationships
Levinson has fallen out of contact with most of her friends in Yuriba. She is acquainted with breisleach and Nisa in passing but cannot claim to have any actual friends on the island at this point.
She has been romantically linked to Jaye, Mihae, and Kathrian, but she is currently unwilling to contact either of the three and expresses no interest in rekindling a relationship with either of them. She considers her time with the three to be a shameful reflection on her own naïveté at the time.
Abilities
Ashley appears to have no supernatural abilities. However, she can occasionally be seen with minor magical artifacts on her person. She seldom shows them off and seems unwilling to explain their origin.