Ashley Crawford
| Ashley Crawford | |
|---|---|
 Portrayed by Barbie Ferreira | |
| Codename: | |
| Affiliations: | Generation X |
| Birthdate: | July 18, 2004 |
| Journal: | xp_lusized |
| Player: | Frito |
"I'm here for powers, because I used to just be really durable and now I'm also really strong and it is so. so. so. so so so so so so annoying."
Ashley Crawford is many things — an aspiring actress and musical performer, a plus sized model, a midwestern jewish girl in the big city, and a big personality — but she's going to find out that she can be much, much more after moving to the Xavier Institute.
Contents
Details
Character Journal: xp_lulsized
Real Name: Ashley Bertha Crawford
Codename: None yet
Aliases: Ashley Lindberg (SAG/AEA union membership)
First Appearance: December 19, 2023
Date of Birth: 7/18/2004
Place of Birth: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Citizenship: United States
Relatives: Jonathan and Brynne Johnson (dad and mom), Samuel Lindberg (maternal grandfather - living), Bertha Lindberg (maternal grandmother, deceased just before Ashley was born), Rachel Werfel-Lindberg (maternal step-grandmother, living - Zayde Sam got remarried)
Education: High school diploma, slowly making her way through a dual bachelor's in theater arts and computer science
Relationship Status: She has dated in the past and will flirt with all the girls
Occupation: Student, aspiring theater and TV actor, plus-sized clothing model, data entry clerk/office worker, web designer, social media person
Team Affiliation: Generation X
Biography
Childhood
Imagine a theater kid.
Imagine the kind of kid who in first grade wants to be part of the school play, and every grade after that.
Imagine the kind of kid who of her own free will asks for dance class, voice lessons, drama class, wants nothing more than to See A Broadway Show for every birthday.
That's Ashley.
Ashley had a very typical 2-parents 2-living-grandparents middle class upbringing. Her parents are, respectively, an accountant (her mom) and a systems administrator (dad). She didn't want for anything, including the dance lessons, the voice lessons, the drama classes, the head shots, the gymnastic lessons, the new head shots, the travel for auditions... it was very clear what she wanted to do early on.
She was a very typical dance kid until middle school - cute little tutu, cute little brunette ballet bun, knew all the words to every Disney musical, every kid-friendly broadway show (there's a lot of overlap there) and a fair number of less kid-friendly ones as she got older. Her parents were Very tolerant of this. Confused, as neither of them had an ounce of interest, but they were happy for her. Went to every show, flowers at the stage door, endless shares on facebook.
Her Bat Mitzvah was an absolute blow-out of a party. Her entire community theater was there, her dance class was there, her drama club was there, there was a chocolate fountain (she ate so many chocolate strawberries you have no idea) they did that number from Glee, she had the -best- dress, a live karaoke band. She never felt so popular or seen.
M-Day was barely on her radar at age 11.
In middle school, she got her period, and then put on weight and gave zero fucks about it. Other people cared, she didn't. She could still run, dance, do a cartwheel and carried a 4 plus octave range. She also became aware that she was more durable than the average kid - she's fallen out of trees, landed on her head trying to do a somersault, been clipped by a passing car, with no damage. She didn't keep this a secret-secret from her family, but did not fully embrace being a mutant yet because it hasn't been a big deal. She was just a kid/teen who tired a little less and didn't really get hurt.
Ashley's was a big personality, with a lot of energy, and a lot of desire to be noticed and to have people pay attention to her and she channeled her time and energy into more singing lessons, more dance and drama classes, and made a decent reputation in local community theater.
This persisted through high school, and she was scouted to do some part-time modeling for a handful of plus-size clothing companies. Her parents sensibly insisted she put that money into a college fund, and when she finished high school, she was accepted at Empire State University into their theater arts program.
The Big City
She begins at Empire State University in August 2023 as a theater arts and computer science major, through a promise to her parents and grandparents that she wouldn't keep all her apples in one basket and have a backup plan in case her dreams couldn't keep the power on. Plus it means she can run her own social media, her own website and the sites for any shows she's in. She's a quadruple threat and proud of it! Acting, Dancing, Singing, Web Design.
Ashley finds college is stressful, but in a good way.
She does okay her first semester, but has a show so can't make it back home for Thanksgiving or winter break. She's lonely — yeah, she joined the Jewish Students Union and the Queer Student Union and she's in about six different clubs but something isn't clicking. She's also busier than she was at home in Wisconsin, there's a culture change, but she's embracing it. She's fine. She's just so. So. busy with auditions and rehearsals and classes and living on her own for the first time ever, and it's so loud in the city but so quiet in her dorm. She's used to drama club and choir and going out to IHOP after rehearsal and giving her friends the bacon she forgot to order as turkey bacon and then she breaks a few things - a dish, her keyboard, and then her chair and bed both collapse under her in the same day - and her doctor suggests she try to lose some weight.
Ashley quickly finds her powers are growing with her possibilities, which leads to issues with campus housing and her weight. This was absurd on it's face, because while she's heavy, she's not 'break a metal bedframe' heavy and she says as much, but her response is dismissed. Then she breaks a stair handrail, and a door, and the sidewalk outside her favorite deli.
These continued power related issues continue into the winter of 2023, and the stress over roommates, housing, and the amounting cost of property damage begins overwhelms her. A chance meeting leads to her being comforted by Sam Guthrie and told of Xavier's powers assistance programs and specialized housing opportunities for mutants.
At the Mansion
Ashley happily takes advantage of the opportunity for free housing and moves into the mansion in late December 2023.
During the events of Behold A Pale Horse, Ashley learns the mansion is more than just a refuge while sheltering in the chapel with Matt Murdock and other student residents.
Ashley quickly becomes platonic soulmates with her roommate Jessie Drake, newly arrived in late January 2024, and works with Rogue to help manage her strength.
Physical Characteristics
Height: 5'4" - Ashley is dead average in height "normally' (unpowered, exhausted or in her general low-power-level durable state)
General Build: Thick. Completely unpowered, she's curvy leaning to fat - she has a thick build, hips, an ass and a bust, wide shoulders, a round face and a little extra chin fat.
When fully powered, she's big. She can put on another two feet of height, and stacks layers of muscle and fat onto an already big frame. Thighs like tree trunks, hands that can palm a basketball or head, her entire frame upheaves and grows.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Her hair is naturally orangey-red, but for the sake of her career she's been dying it a deep brown since she was thirteen. Ashley is caucasian, peachy-pink with freckles.
Distinguishing Features: Her most distinguishing feature is her size - unpowered she's unremarkably curvy - but fully powered she's very tall, and big all around.
Powers
Ashley is a tough, strong, durable size-shifter.
As of early 2024, she's only moderately durable with bouts of strength. She can get hit by a car and the car gets damaged, she can fall off a several story building and dent the sidewalk not herself. Hit by a train would leave cracked ribs, hit by a plane would break her. She bends medical needles (her vaccines are all old polio-style, onna sugar cube), her teeth are Pristine, and she has this fancy titanium nail clipper she got to trim her fingernails and toenails. Her hair is durable too - it's taken 7 years of dye, blowouts, endless ballet buns and stage hairspray without breakage.
Once she's seemingly got a grip on her powers, she'll be able to get hit by a subway train and laugh, bench press a truck, juggle manhole covers (she can juggle, she's a theater kid) and chainsaws without dropping them or getting hurt. She's also going to be struggling with fluctuating weight that she only gets a real grip on when she finally (seemingly) tops out around the 'pick up a truck and move it to another parking spot' level of strength.
Her control over her strength, durability and size are tied to her emotional state - but not like a Hulk. Any strong emotion can (for now) set her off. When she's excited, angry, anxious, sad - she's a little bigger, a little stronger, and so on. Her control will grow as she practices, like any other physical art - dance, martial arts, bowling, yoga, she just has to work at it.
During her first year or so at the mansion her height and weight will only fluctuate a small amount. Height will be more "Are you wearing heels today?" "I am, they're SO cute, right?" inch or so, weight maybe a size or two of clothing. Her strength and durability scales with size, so this will not change dramatically once she thinks she's got things under control.
At full potential and effort, she'll be able to grow to an unwieldy terrifying 20 or so feet tall, but her comfortable upper range is 7 and a half or so feet tall when "fully" powered, and able to judo flip a fully loaded subway car.
Eventually she'll be able to shift between her normal height/build and her max, and several steps in between. The shift is all or none, no selective shifting of a leg or arm.
Equipment
An extensive knowledge of musical theater.
Trivia
External Links
Plots
2024
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Player: Frito
Player Icon Base: Barbie Ferreira
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