Man, the ascendant's way more complex than people give it credit for. I've been mulling it over for years. I've got Leo rising, but honestly? No one who meets me ever describes me as Leo like right off the bat. To really get a feel for it, you gotta look at a few things together. Sure, the sign itself, any planets in the first house, the ruling planet, and like you're saying aspects to the ascendant. I also think you should check out your Mars placement and where Aries falls to see the whole first house picture. Some folks might disagree, but hey, I don't really mind. I've met a ton of people, and I've bumped into others who look and act a lot like me, but their rising signs are totally different. My chart's got a bunch of squares, including my ascendant. In my day to day life, that plays out as having all sorts of different interests, since I'm always being pulled in a bunch of directions. For my ascendant specifically, it's in Leo squaring Pluto in Libra and Jupiter in Scorpio. My Mars is in Scorpio, and my Aries cusp is on the 10th. So my ascendant personality is this weird mix of Leo, Scorpio/Pluto, Jupiter, and Libra. Other than caring how my hair looks, I don't connect with most Leo traits. Almost everyone tells me I make really intense eye contact I actually have to tone it down 'cause people say it makes them uneasy. That's gotta be the Pluto/Scorpio. And a lot of people say I seem pretty balanced and chill, which is the Libra side. So, that's just my take, anyway. Whenever I tell someone I'm a Leo rising, they usually look confused and say something like, You don't seem very flamboyant or fiery at all... It happens every single time. Shrug. Hope that helps you out a bit, or at least gives you something to think about.
