Eilise Cerise Ashton

Personality: Eli is the kind of person who seems as if they’re always smiling. She's bashful, clumsy, and forgetful, three traits that frequently combine to cause her embarrassment. She’s energetic and friendly, and is always quick to share or help others. She's a girl who has trouble telling others no, and easily feels guilty during the times when she does. She hardly ever causes any trouble, although she is guilty of feeding too many stray animals and inadvertently causing the pet population to rise in her neighborhood.

She carries an immense love for baking and cooking as well. She enjoys experimenting with new recipe ideas, and it's not uncommon to find her carrying around a leftover cookie or a batch of brownies. She has an insistent need to feed anyone she comes across, a fact that is both a joy and a bane to all her family and friends. It’s hard to imagine her as anything other than cheerful, and that’s precisely because that’s how Eli wants others to see her. She hinges her identity on being seen as sweet and kind, and has little confidence in any of her other traits.

In fact, Eilise lacks any confidence at all. She’s so concerned with keeping up a happy image that she’s too afraid to let anyone see when she’s upset or stressed out, emotions of which she is frequently dealing with. She’s kept herself bottled up for so long, and the result is a gnawing loneliness that follows her even through the largest crowds. Although outwardly she might seem optimistic, inwardly she is heavily pessimistic and at times paranoid.

It’s not that her smiling nature is a fabrication. She’s a shy girl who wants to be liked, but she’s also incredibly fearful. However, a glimpse past her cheerful bravado would reveal a hard worker who is stocked full of clever information. She's someone who enjoys playing video games and reading fiction, and frequently mutters strange comments about alternative worlds. She’s playful and adventurous, or at least she wants to be. Her thoughts are full of whimsical ideas and bizarre questions. She dreams of something extraordinary happening one day, but fears she will forever be ordinary.

History: Eilise is the oldest child of Derek and Areum Ashton. She has two younger siblings, a five year old sister named Violet and a three year old brother named Anthony. Eli is incredible close to her family, but one look at the Ashton's and it's immediately obvious that Eli is not biologically related to them. That's because unlike her siblings, Eilise was adopted.

She was originally born into a very neglectful home. She was often left alone and easily forgotten or mistreated. She wasn't always given food, and had to learn to scavenge and cook for herself. Her biological parents didn't seem as if they knew how to take care of a child, or perhaps they simply didn't want to. Lonely and wanting attention, she veered for approval from her neighbors and peers. Perhaps sensing that she would be easy prey, the kids bullied and teased her, convincing her to misbehave because they believed it would be funny. After some time, they even began pinning the blame for everything on her, even if she hadn't been the true culprit. This new troublemaker reputation quickly turned her parents' apathy to anger. They began physically abusing her to try and keep her in line, with each blaming the other for her behavior. They insisted on harsh teaching methods and cruel words to try to rectify the growing mistakes and issues.

Eli stopped acting out at home, but she still continued to get in even worse trouble at school. Her grades were falling, and she wasn't interacting with the other kids. When she did interact, she was rude towards both the kids and the teachers and was quick to respond to her problems with violence. The pattern continued for two years, until a substitute teacher found out about the abuse and neglect when a he became disturbed by her behavior and discovered consisting bruising and burns on the girl's arms. Eli was admitted into foster care while her parents were brought up in court. After a few years of moving from home to home and family to family, and dealing with the stress of appearing in court to testify, the girl was eventually permitted for a family to adopted.

Living with the Ashton's was a difficult adjustment at first, but Eli eventually overcame her problems and found herself becoming extremely fond of her new family. She loved her adoptive parents, and their continued encouragement helped her to shape a new life. Eilise became a happy child, one who loved to play, would always help others, and kept a stream of good grades. She wanted to make her new parents proud, and when they were suddenly expecting she was eager to be a good role model for her new younger siblings. Violet and Anthony often get the most attention whenever family visits. This often causes her parents to argue with the family, as they in turn are protective and loving of their adoptive daughter as much as their biological kids. They boast about Eli's acceptance into Asteria Academy.

During the summer, Eilise likes to volunteer at the town's animal shelter. It's not glamorous and involves more cleaning than people are aware of than playing and walking, but she enjoys it. She sees herself in the animals that get brought in, as many come in scared or angry and from an unhappy home. Helping to rehabilitate them and finding them loving homes makes her feel like she's helping her past self.

Relationships:


Soulmate:

Other: Honestly her eyesight isn't that bad either, but she's been wearing her glasses for so long that it just feels weird. However, her eyesight is changing slightly, so she's convinced she still needs them.

Although she used to have lots of unofficial pets that would visit, her parents have allowed her to keep two kittens in the hopes that she'll stopped attracting more strays. The first is a female yellow tabby with a partially motionless leg named Autumn, and the other is a solid grey male with a missing eye named August.