old ashley/asherry pieces i still rly like :3333

Sherry Birkin Headcanons:

Poor little Sherry has precious few good memories of her parents. Not because they were physically or emotionally abusive but because they were both workaholics and inadvertently became neglectful. They were very attentive in the beginning when Sherry was born, but when she was six, and they both got negative annual reviews from their boss, it started going downhill. A few missed bedtime stories here, missed parent/teacher conferences there, then missed birthdays because their deadlines are just too important to ignore. To the point that by the time Sherry is 12 in RE2, she's practically independent. Making sure she goes to bed early, that all her homework is finished and perfect, and making her own food.

It wasn't all bad, though. There were nights were William would take his little girl out for night drives, switching on the radio and letting her pick her favorite pop station until she fell asleep. Vaguely aware of her father carefully scooping her up, who knows how long later, tucking her into bed with a delicate kiss on her forehead. Other nights Annette would take the time to teach little Sherry baking recipes and simple little dishes like scrambled eggs, tuna melts, and mac and cheese. There were a few times her favorite pop singer or boy band just so happened to be performing in the same city, and despite both parents absolutely hating 90's era pop music, they knew Sherry loved it, so they took her to each rare concert, calling the school that she was sick the next day so their little girl can sleep in from the lively night. Sherry even had some happy memories of Uncle Albert, as even more avoidant as he is. Mostly of him babysitting her, relenting on her watching whatever movie she wanted, and him taking her out that one Halloween. He didn't want to wear a costume, but Sherry wouldn't have that and got a sharpie and drew on whiskers and a cat nose. S.T.A.R.S. Team gave him so much shit the next day when the Sharpie wouldn't wash off.

Of course, the precious good memories were buried beneath the traumatic event of Raccoon City. Of being left to fend for herself until Claire and Leon came along. Of being kidnapped by Chief Irons. Of watching her father literally morph into an unrecognizable creature dead set on hunting her down, and that horrific moment where he, it, caught her and implanted the G-virus in her. Everything changed after Raccoon City.

It's already pretty well established how Shery looks up to Claire and Leon as parental figures, and they both did provide her with wonderful memories while she was growing up under the thumb of the government. How they would give her the newest cassette tapes and CDs of her favorite bands. New stuffed animals so that at night she wouldn't feel so alone. New science fiction books and magazines. But, as the years went by, the visits became fewer and farther apart. Letters came less and less, to the point that several years would go by before Sherry was allowed to see either or receive any letters.

As her contact with her chosen parents lessened, the experiment the government would force her to undergo would increase more and more. Specifically when she was transferred under the supervision of Simmons. All under the guise of utilizing her G-Virus antibodies to create vaccines, hopes that the healing properties found in her would be useful against other viruses. Things that no one in their right mind would object to, no matter how painful or invasive the experiment was. If Sherry ever dared to object in her youth, well, Simmons was quite adept at turning it all around to villainize her and shame her until she gave in and continued to be an experiment.

As a result, Sherry as a teenager, was depressed, angry, impulsive, and self-destructive. Sherry couldn't help but obsess over the horrible moment the thing that was her father implanted G-virus in her, forever changing her life. How her parents practically abandoned her at every chance. How stupid she was to think that Claire and Leon would be different from her parents. She would impulsively throw away all the stuffed animals, rip the magazines and books to shreds, and smash the CDs and cassettes. In soul-crushing guilt and shame for assuming the worst and destroying her memories of her chosen parents, she would mutilate her arms, only to see them heal right back. No matter how many broken shards of CDs and broken mirrors she would shove into her appendages, it all healed right back.

After her understandable mental breakdown after the never-ending experiments and never being able to see her chosen parents, Simmons was forced to stop the experiments on Sherry by the government. She couldn't bear it anymore, and the government didn't want their prized humanoid BOW to find a way to kill herself. Simmons was also forced to let her have all the letters and gifts he's been withholding, to allow Claire and Leon to visit her again, and, more importantly, to allow Sherry to start attending therapy.

Therapy was the best thing that ever happened to her. Gave her the tools to reteach herself how she saw herself, what happened to her, and the most important people in her life. Instead of viewing her parents as people who couldn't care less about her, she came to view them as "consumed by their work." As much as she wanted to help and make her infection mean something, she realized all the experiments Simmons was putting her through were destroying her, consuming her as much as her parents' work did them. She realized there were more ways she could help stop what happened to her from happening to others, and took inspiration from Leon(still not knowing he was forced to become an agent).

Which to me explains her mentality and behavior in RE6 and how she explained what happened to her. It clearly still weighs on her heavily but it isn't the mentality of someone festering in guilt, regret, and trauma like Leon or Chris. It's more like Rebecca and Claire, who truly survived and learned to thrive again, to use their experience to motivate them to help in the best way they can. Even when it's revealed that Simmons is behind the creation of the C-Virus and all the attacks across the world, Sherry didn't break. She felt guilty and stupid for trusting Simmons, but she moved forward and set out to stop him.

To Sherry, Jake, and especially when he struggled to accept who his father was and what kind of person that made him, he reminds her of when she was younger and angrier. When she was convinced that she was a monster because of her parents. He reminds her of a person she could have become had she not taken control of her life. She wanted to help him realize he was more than his absent father, more than his C-Virus, and that there was more to life than money. Post RE6 Jake makes her so proud that he took control of his own life and truly becane his own person like she did.

Side note: I also think Sherry and Ashley met through therapy and became fast friends once they realized they were the only ones that could truly understand the trauma they shared of forcefully infected but had the infextion halted before the infection could reach past it's infancy stage. I can see them bonding over their shared desire of being an agent to help stop bioterrorism(a path I don't think Ashley managed to go down unyil post RE6). And of course, them bonding over Leon and how important of a parental(Sherry)/mentor(Ashley) role he played after saving them.

Imagine Will sleep walks, and re-enacts the behavior he sees in his test subjects in the lab. Albeit, in a less violent manner, if we’re considering the G or T virus. And he scares the dog shit out of Annette and Sherry when doing so because he already looks like an anemic, pale carcass when he’s awake, but when he’s sleep walking in the dark it’s even spookier

Nonnie, I love this. I think it’s a really great headcanon. Can I call it a headcanon? It shows some of his mental state before the real shit rolls around.