#asaintro

— biography

tw // homophobia, medical malpractice, mental institutions, murder

Asa grew up in a small family home in a town on the outskirts of Dublin. Both parents were devoutly Catholic and the whole family walked to church multiple times a week. He worked summers helping clean up the little church-house in the valley and his father often pawned him off to ‘learn a hard day’s work’ at various places in town. Despite his father having plenty of money and working at a bank in the city, Asa was often treated like he had to provide for his family as well. He wanted to spend time with his siblings but it often fell on him to get a job first, to get his license, to get into college. There was immense pressure from his family at all times to be the model son.

He had always been introverted but starting in high school, he started to rebel, getting angry at his parents and lashing out at them. His father had just started a very high-profile job in the government and his 13 year old son was the least of his issues. Eventually, Asa was sent away to a home for ‘troubled teens’ and was essentially beaten into submission by orderlies and people who did not care about his wellbeing or his mental stability. He was treated like a problem, like an inmate in a prison at the age of 14 and was kept there for years due to his father’s negligence and lies. Saying after Asa came back for a short time once that he was still ‘acting up’. That they had failed and he would expose them if they didn’t forge documents to send Asa off to a mental institution.

Through it all, Asa was manipulated into thinking he was the problem. That he had done so much wrong that he was being punished, and would continue to be for the rest of his life- tormented by the Devil. Because of his father’s lies, he was in and out of a few psychiatric facilities, given experimental (and illegal) medical treatments, and treated as insane. His father was a constant terrifying presence in his life, always finding a new place to send him off to in Ireland, Wales, and London.

Asa changed the course of his fate when one day his father pushed him too far- after another heated argument and further tries at manipulating him to go back to an in-patient facility, Asa murdered his father. He was lucky- his dad never spoke about his son to others due to his immense disappointment, so Asa fleeing to the U.S. was done as covertly as possible.

After moving to the US, he created a large court case to take down the corrupt mental hospital he'd been in back in London - St. Irene's. With meticulous organization and gathering evidence, Asa was able to get the place shut down and several of the doctors sent away to prison - and he in turn won a huge settlement. He did art- something he’d loved to do throughout his time in and out of facilities, and in the past few years he's created some children's books that have done well on the market, the second one even hitting the NYT Bestsellers list. He’s a bit withdrawn and quiet, awkward with making friends.

Without money being a huge object, Asa moved off to Ohio. He wanted to avoid prying eyes and suspicion about his crimes, and live out the rest of his life in peace. He started as a volunteer to put books away, seeming like some lost soul who had happened upon Helltown. Soon he was hired as an actual librarian, his meticulous organization an asset even if he's sometimes a little offputting.

— wanted connections / plots

TW // medical malpractice, blood, death, homophobia, asylums, electroshock therapy

B I O :

BORN IN 1834. A gay man born in a tumultuous time period. A tailor’s assistant in a small town in Ireland that occasionally got to travel to London to sell wares in markets. But after his father found secret correspondence between him and another man, he was sent off to St. Irene’s Mental Asylum in Brentwood, London.

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE. Asa was treated harshly there, and spent decades of his life at St. Irene’s. Being treated as clinically insane, he was administered electro-shock therapy, experimental medications, and often restrained in a room in solitude.

TURNED. At the age of 46, Asa was yet again secluded in his room when an incident ended his life- and somehow began it all over again. Another patient broke in, covered in blood, and Asa was attacked. Scarred up and bitten. Barely alive, he awoke to mayhem in the halls as nurses and doctors tried to clean up messes and find out what had happened - multiple bloodied corpses, a mess streaked down the hallways. He was snatched up by his new sire and brought somewhere in London - a chaotic many years with an ancient vampire who put the fear of god into the new fledgling. One day, he was just... gone, and the door was unlocked. And Asa walked out and into the world for the first time in decades.

ALONE. Asa spent many years holed up and alone, afraid of his own power. He traveled out at night to feed and hardly went outside. He found his father and killed him - stole his money, and made it look like an accident.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT. He moves to the US after a long stint of being alone. Desperate for something new, anything new. Early on there, he meets Mikala Seabrooke, who he has an instant connection with. A man who he irrevocably falls in love with. As he begins an author/illustrator career, he and Mikala live together, get married, and decide to settle in Blackwater. There, he's able to help with Mikala's funeral home as a receptionist, work remotely for the children's books he had started, and tend to an overgrown garden full of their unique plants.

PERSONALITY :

PLEASE CHECK TWS BEFORE PROCEEDING TW // Homophobia, medical malpractice, electroshock therapy, religious trauma, medical trauma, head trauma, murder

BIOGRAPHY .

Asa came into the world with a hard-working mother and a father hellbent on success. While he and his sister spent their childhood in a cozy cottage near the cliffs on the outskirts of Dublin, their father was worming his way into the Irish government. Conor Holland wanted to be in the cabinet, and that meant making sure he had the perfect family... and Asa's rebellious teenage nature, coupled with his secret homosexuality found out through secret magazines and love letters under his bed, meant that he was a huge liability. So Asa was sent away to a troubled teen's home at age 15 - a place that could take minors and sculpt them into whatever their parents wanted. Extremely religious, strict. He was made to believe very early on that any anger is not tolerated, and neither is his attraction to men. It only worsened from there. Asa's rebellion ran deep, but his father's stubbornness ran deeper. When he didn't seem to be 'reformed' as his father wanted, Conor Holland forged medical documents and sent him away to a psychiatric facility. When they started to suspect anything, he'd be sent to another. Asa spent nearly 20 years in and out of mental hospitals. White walls, little cups with his daily medications. Sedated, lethargic, and isolated. Some locations were better than others. Some were complete hell. Meanwhile, his father benefited from an absent son who was so tucked away, so hard to find or learn about, that he could even be claimed to be dead. St. Irene's was the worst. After medical malpractice with defunct medical equipment and out-of-date experimental treatments, Asa was left worse than ever. An electro-convulsive therapy machine was used on him in hopes this could cure the issues outlined by the ever-growing list of mental maladies his father had assigned to him by force. But with St. Irene's over-crowding, he was sent back to his father. This time, Asa made sure he couldn't be sent back, and took a hammer to his father's head. An unfortunate housefire 'took the life of' Conor Holland, member of the Irish cabinet. And Asa fled to London with his father's secret stash of cash. It was the court case of St. Irene's v. Holland that got Asa noticed by the Jolly Roger. A carefully crafted take-down of the corrupt institution he'd been subject to for years. Old letters, polaroids, prior patient testimony. Asa had forged the most airtight condemnation of the institution completely on his own - and won a huge settlement for his troubles. The place was shut down, the owners and some of the doctors locked up. Suddenly, Asa Holland was an asset. A smart man whose father seemed to 'disappear'. After he'd been looked into, he was pulled into the Jolly Roger, starting with some general consulting and aiding in organization. It didn't take long for him to get into killing. He'd already done it once and loved the way it felt. So why not a few more, for pay? And soon enough, he was moving up, and up. Now an Underboss, Asa Holland is noted as "the Hook". Named after the captain in Peter Pan, Asa has 'hooks' in many parts of London. He 'hooks' people into the Jolly Roger who intrigue him... and just like a fishing hook, he keeps them there until he decides to rip free. If he ever does...

HEADCANONS .

-Asa can be an incredibly off-putting individual, due to his time away from ‘society’, as well as the head trauma he's experienced. While he tries to make conversation with others, it is clear he is still figuring out how to make friends and to have relationships.

-His flat is an eclectic and beautiful mishmosh of art, plants, and his 5 cats. He collects many items from the antique stores that Jolly Roger works out of, and its on display beautiful in his artsy space. It's here where he has his own private art studio for his books - he works as a childrens book illustrator.

-While he is an enigma wrapped in another enigma, Asa can be a kind person. He often is thoughtful in small ways- having everyones’ coffee orders pegged on his bulletin board in his office, sending small and odd cards for birthdays and events.

Background:

TW // Abuse, Murder, Medical malpractice, Homophobia

Born in Ireland and raised to be a good Christian boy. Unfortunately he was a rebellious gay teen and his father had far too much influence and power.

Asa's father sent him away to a Troubled Teen home to 'straighten him out'. This didn't work, but did help confuse Asa about right & wrong, & if he was 'in his right mind' or not.

His father sent him to a mental institution after this, convincing doctors that his son was not well.

Asa was in and out of different institutions and psychiatric hospitals due to his parents for many years. This consisted of him taking medications he didn't need that messed with his brain, closing him off from society, and leaving him isolated often.

During his stay at the last institution, St. Irene's, Asa was given 'experimental treatment' which was, essentially, medical malpractice.

After getting out and being sent back to his father, he realized his father was planning to send him off to another place, and that he'd be condemned to this for his entire life if he didn't do something. He murdered his father, stole some money, and fled to the States.

There, in NYC, he began creating a case to shut down St. Irene's. Corresponding with various victims and former patients and nurses, Asa created a huge backlog of evidence and was rewarded a HUGE settlement and the place was shut down.

Had only been 'out' of these hospitals for a few years when the virus hit. Asa fled from NYC and found Novac.

Farming and gardening has always been something he's passionate about, and this has made it easier for him to connect with his job at Novac.

Headcanons:

-Asa has a residual head injury from his time at St. Irene's from their misuse of ECT (Electro-Convulsive Therapy). This is a small pinkish burn mark on the side of his temple. While it doesn't normally bother him, he does get chronic headaches from it and occasionally will have more issues (hearing buzzing, feeling dizzy)

-Asa is an incredibly off-putting individual, due to his time away from ‘society’. While he tries to make conversation with others, it is clear he is still figuring out how to make friends and to have relationships.

-Asa illustrates and has a ton of art from his time in the different institutions he's been stuck in.

-While he is an enigma wrapped in another enigma, Asa is a kind person. He often is thoughtful in small ways- having everyones’ favorite foods or colors memorized, giving small hand-drawn cards or little gifts for birthdays and events.

TW: Abuse, Homophobia, Blood, Murder

Asa Holland was born in Ireland in 1844. His father had money, but wanted his son to earn an honest living- and so Asa learned a trade early and became a tailor’s apprentice. Asa was unassuming, quiet and mousy, but as he learned from his boss, he seemed to come alive. Clothing and the arts, sewing and creating. When he had free time he began to learn painting as well. But his father saw his relationship with the man, and fearing the worst, sent his son away to ‘correct’ his behavior. 

At the age of 15 he was living in a mental hospital in England- and many never left these sorts of places. Asa’s aggression came out from his anger at his father, but it only showed those in charge of him that he truly couldn’t be trusted to be sent back out into society. And so for years upon years, he rotted in hospitals. His father rose to higher positions in government and couldn’t afford to take his ‘mental’ son out- and so if anything, he’d be transferred about to other psychiatric institutes. Until one day in 1888. Someone came into his derelict bedroom, unknowingly about to change the man’s life- a creature, a vampire, hungry and lonely. Asa was turned, somehow not fully killed in the process of the feeding. And in his turned state, he went feral. The doctors and nurses who had held him there, force-fed him pills, mistreated him... 

Asa left the place a bloodbath, but it was assumed he’d been one of the many casualties of the mysterious events of that one night in 1888 at St. Irene’s. But instead, Asa was free, finally. He left that nightmarish place and traveled about, to London, back to Ireland. Eventually, years and years later, to the States. Now as an almost 2-centuries-old vampire, Asa is an unsettling but kind man- there is a quiet intensity to his eyes that have seen the invention of electricity, of cars and phones. He is antiquated in some ways, naive in others. But Asa runs a tight ship at the library, having taken over from the old woman who was set to retire. He does his best to create all sorts of clubs, study groups, and story-times at the library.

“what power did [he/she/they] attain when settling in opulence?”

TW // Abuse, Homophobia

Asa grew up in a small family home in a town on the outskirts of Dublin. Both parents were devoutly Catholic and the whole family walked to church 3 times a week. He worked summers helping clean up the little church-house in the valley and his father often pawned him off to ‘learn a hard day’s work’ at various places in town, making pennies to take home. Despite his father having plenty of money and working at a bank in the city, Asa was often treated like he had to provide for his family as well. He wanted to spend time with his siblings but it often fell on him to get a job first, to get his license, to get into college. There was immense pressure from his family at all times to be the model son. He had always been introverted but starting in high school, he started to rebel, getting angry at his parents and lashing out at them. His father had just started a very high-profile job in the government and his 13 year old son was the least of his issues.

Eventually, Asa was sent away to a place for ‘troubled children’ and was essentially beaten into submission by orderlies and people who did not care about his wellbeing or his mental stability. He was treated like a problem, like an inmate in a prison at the age of 14 and was kept there for years due to his father’s negligence and lies. Saying after Asa came back for a short time once that he was still ‘acting up’ and ‘deranged’. That they had failed and he would expose them if they didn’t take Asa back.Through it all, Asa was manipulated into thinking he was the problem. That he had done so much wrong that he was being punished, and would continue to be for the rest of his life- tormented by the Devil. Because of the severe mistreatment he’d faced, his father continued the manipulation- Asa was in and out of a few psychiatric facilities, severely depressed, and lost in his own life. His father was a constant terrifying presence in his life, shipping him out to the army to try and ‘straighten him out’ even after briefly coming back from the many places he’d stayed in.

Asa came back with numerous injuries, a medical background from being taught by the chief medic, and a ton of nightmares. But even after that, his father continued to assert his son’s need to be tucked away somewhere ‘safe’. After years of this, Asa left- heading to London where he could try to start his own life over. After moving, he worked a few odd jobs to make ends meet, and would take server jobs, desk jobs, data entry- anything that would pay the bills.

A few years after he had moved, Asa began crafting a case to close down St. Irene’s, the terrible place he’d been locked in for years. With the help of other former patients, he successfully sued the hospital and had it shut down- he and many patients were given huge payouts and suddenly Asa didn’t HAVE to work. The man had worked from the ground up on the entire case, leaving no stone unturned. He poured everything into organizing every paper, letter, and piece of evidence with forensic background into showing St. Irene for what it was. After moving to London, he found himself working in a library, sorting books and organizing. The kind old woman who ran the place soon had him doing just about everything, until she decided to retire. Now Asa runs the entire place, taking care of inventory, scheduling of his volunteers and staff, events, and acquisition of books. 

Headcanons:

-Asa is an incredibly off-putting individual, due to his time away from ‘society’. While he tries to make conversation with others, it is clear he is still figuring out how to make friends and to have relationships.

-Despite how he appears, Asa spends a lot of his time in the arts. He enjoys books, painting, and plants, and will often be found on his front patio with his watercolors. He has rescued many cats that all live in his surprisingly beautiful and eclectic home.

-While he is an enigma wrapped in another enigma, Asa is a kind person. He often is thoughtful in small ways- having everyones’ coffee orders pegged on his bulletin board in his office, sending small and odd cards for birthdays and events. 

BIO:  TW // Abuse, Homophobia

Asa grew up in a small family home in a town on the outskirts of Dublin. Both parents were devoutly Catholic and the whole family walked to church 3 times a week. He worked summers helping clean up the little church-house in the valley and his father often pawned him off to ‘learn a hard day’s work’ at various places in town, making pennies to take home. Despite his father having plenty of money and working at a bank in the city, Asa was often treated like he had to provide for his family as well. He wanted to spend time with his siblings but it often fell on him to get a job first, to get his license, to get into college. There was immense pressure from his family at all times to be the model son. He had always been introverted but starting in high school, he started to rebel, getting angry at his parents and lashing out at them. His father had just started a very high-profile job in the government and his 13 year old son was the least of his issues. 

Eventually, Asa was sent away to a place for ‘troubled children’ and was essentially beaten into submission by orderlies and people who did not care about his wellbeing or his mental stability. He was treated like a problem, like an inmate in a prison at the age of 14 and was kept there for years due to his father’s negligence and lies. Saying after Asa came back for a short time once that he was still ‘acting up’ and ‘deranged’. That they had failed and he would expose them if they didn’t take Asa back. Through it all, Asa was manipulated into thinking he was the problem. That he had done so much wrong that he was being punished, and would continue to be for the rest of his life- tormented by the Devil. Because of the severe mistreatment he’d faced, his father continued the manipulation- Asa was in and out of a few psychiatric facilities, severely depressed, and lost in his own life. His father was a constant terrifying presence in his life, shipping him out to the army to try and ‘straighten him out’ even after briefly coming back from the many places he’d stayed in.

 Asa came back with numerous injuries, a medical background from being taught by the chief medic, and a ton of nightmares. In a desperate bid for freedom, Asa decided to run off with what money he had and move. After flying to the first place he'd spotted on a list of cheap flights, he worked a few odd jobs to make ends meet, and would take server jobs, desk jobs, data entry- anything that would pay the bills.

A few years after he moved, Asa began crafting a case to close down St. Irene’s, the terrible place he’d been locked in for years. With the help of other former patients, he successfully sued the hospital and had it shut down- he and many patients were given huge payouts and suddenly Asa didn’t HAVE to work. But he found he had a knack for organization and lists, and began working at the library. In the past few years he's taken over as the head librarian and many know his face around Denver now. In his spare time he enjoys painting and gardening.

Headcanons:

-Asa is an incredibly off-putting individual, due to his time away from ‘society’. While he tries to make conversation with others, it is clear he is still figuring out how to make friends and to have relationships.

-Despite how he appears, Asa spends a lot of his time in the arts. He enjoys books, painting, and plants, and will often be found on his front patio with his watercolors. He has rescued many cats that all live in his surprisingly beautiful and eclectic home.

-While he is an enigma wrapped in another enigma, Asa is a kind person. He often is thoughtful in small ways- having everyones’ coffee orders pegged on his bulletin board in his office, sending small and odd cards for birthdays and events. On the other end, Asa’s ‘kindness’ at the library he works at often is seen as disquieting and he is not as great with older folks and children.