When Asher became a reporter, when he chose to focus on the history of Cloudbank, he had hoped to do good with his work. Asher wanted nothing more than to piece together the history of the city and use that to showcase what had and hadn’t benefited the people of Cloudbank, to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. His articles earned him much attention, and despite the angry messages on his terminal each morning from those who disputed the facts he dug up or whom he had somehow offended with his latest story, the majority of what he heard from others was positive if slightly confused at why anyone would care about what happened years ago. Asher’s frustrations with how fragmented and incomplete the record of history was lead him to begin to doubt the worth of his work, especially when interest dwindled and the fickle masses trickled away to find entertainment in other, newer things.
When he first met Grant Kendrell, he’d only expected to find another source of information. Getting to know the administrator had opened up doors Asher had never even considered, through Grant he found others equally as frustrated with the current state of affairs in Cloudbank as he had become during his career. Asher had found a likeminded group of individuals who wanted to change things just as badly as he did. With the Camerata Asher was free to voice his opinions in a way that wouldn’t result in public backlash and angry or disinterested citizens, with them he could dig deeper into Cloudbank’s past and help change the future for the better. Asher found a purpose.
He found love as well, and when he and Grant married, Asher could hardly contain the joy that had welled up inside of him for weeks afterwards. The two Kendrells were one of the most prolific topics of gossip for almost a year afterwards, and for once Asher didn’t mind if strangers spoke about him rather than his articles, as long as none of the words he overheard were negative at any rate. They seldom were, Cloudbank was very open minded in many ways thanks to the constantly shifting layout of the city. When changes were constant, not many things were considered outlandish or shocking, and anything new was usually celebrated with open arms.
Asher worked hard for the Camerata, worked hard to help make Grant’s vision a reality, and when Royce retrieved the Transistor and gained control over the Process, well he put his skills to good use. Due to his job, he was free to move about and collect data with little to no suspicion as people would simply think he was gathering information for a new article, and he could help scope out new targets for integration almost as effectively as Sybil. He had a purpose that he could put all his previous work into, one that would benefit nearly everyone in the end, and for once Asher was free of the doubts that had plagued him before. Anything done out of love for his city and for Grant couldn’t truly be bad, could it?