Character Profile: Brian Aston from Sleepy Hollow

Character Profile: Brian Aston from Sleepy Hollow Brian Aston manages to turn a tutoring session into the beginning of a horror story, and it's almost impressive how quickly he gets there. He's a basketball player who's struggling both on the court and in class. His coach brings Craig Marsters in to help him with history. Craig is prepared to tutor him. Brian is prepared to pay him for the answers. As far as Brian is concerned, those are apparently supposed to be the same arrangement. Craig refuses. He tells Brian he'll help him learn, but he won't do the cheating for him. Brian takes that as Craig standing between him and his future. He talks about the limited time he has to make money playing basketball, while Craig will supposedly always have his intelligence to fall back on. It's the explanation he gives himself for why Craig should be obligated to help him. That doesn't stay at the level of an argument. Brian hits Craig, helps get him tied to railroad tracks and keeps demanding the answers while a train approaches. The group thought the tracks weren't in use, but even when the danger becomes obvious, Brian continues trying to get what he wants out of it. After Craig is killed, Brian immediately focuses on removing evidence and keeping everyone out of jail. Then the Horseman starts coming for them, and Brian still finds a way to make another person's death about his grades. When Mike dies, he starts talking about whether the school's grief policy could get him a passing semester. Steve has to point out how disgusting that response is. There's no supernatural explanation needed for Brian himself. He's entitled, desperate to keep his place and willing to make somebody else pay for it. The story gives us enough of his situation to understand why he's frightened about his future. It also shows exactly how little concern he has for anybody else's. He isn't even loyal to the people who helped him. When he and Ty crash while escaping the Horseman, Brian leaves Ty unconscious and runs. He gets caught near the stables, where Craig turns the violence back on him. What stayed with me is how preventable this whole sequence was. Craig wasn't refusing to help Brian. He was refusing to cheat for him. Brian had someone sitting there willing to do the work with him, and he decided that wasn't good enough. That's the starting point for everything that follows. Source: Grimm Fairy Tales presents Sleepy Hollow #1–4.