♦ harley quinn ♦ dc comics (preboot) ♦ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
heymisterj) wrote2019-06-20 09:13 pm
heymisterj) wrote2019-06-20 09:13 pm
app: mask or menace
〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Mel
AGE: very, very much over 18
JOURNAL: n/a
IM / EMAIL: PM, Plurk, or OOC Contact
PLURK:
RETURNING: New
〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Harley Quinn (born Harleen Quinzel)
CHARACTER AGE: 29
SERIES: DC Comics (preboot)
CHRONOLOGY: Post No Man's Land arc, Pre Emperor Joker arc
CLASS: Villain, co-conspirator with a mass-murdering psychopath (does that count?)
HOUSING: Roomies are great as long as their players don’t mind dealing with this hot mess. I’d like one them to be Joker, but other than that randomization is totally cool. Preference for someplace in De Chima, but anywhere else works too.
BACKGROUND: Please note that her history includes the following: TW/CW: murder/mental and physical abuse/violence/mental illness/terrorism
Her canon world: wiki link
History: wiki link
Within her world, Harley is primarily thought of as The Joker's sidekick, girlfriend, and often the recipient of his rage. Though it's often overlooked that, in practice, she's capable of standing up to the Joker and their relationship is, in fact, mutually destructive. Most Gothamites have likely heard the story about Dr. Harleen Quinzel, the Arkham psychiatrist who had her mind warped by the Joker and turned into Harley Quinn. She also likely comes across as a total ditz and mentally ill to these same people even though she's actually extremely intelligent, shrewd, and manipulative. Harley is typically portrayed as an accomplice, but she genuinely has her own ideas and is more than capable of pulling them off. She just doesn't often have a chance to show this and, when she attempts to, the effort is shot down.
Her comic history (particularly her origin story) is a bit convoluted and contradicts itself all over the place. So Harley’s history and timeline is pieced together primarily using the comics Mad Love (including the Mad Love novelization, which directly retells the comic story while adding more information on Harley's childhood, college years, and motivations), Batman: Harley Quinn, and the No Man’s Land arc.
Harleen Quinzel was the first child, and only daughter, of Nick and Sharon Quinzel. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and had three younger brothers: Barry, Frankie, and Ezzie. Her childhood was (from her perspective, anyway, since she wasn't aware that her father participated in criminal activity to make a living) pretty average until the age of 7. At this time, she saw her father attacked by two men who referred to him as 'Slick Nick Quinzel' and who seemed to be angry because they believed Nick had betrayed them on a job.
7 year old Harleen attempted to get help from a nearby police officer. Said officer recognized Nick and, instead of assisting aid, handcuffed him and brought him to the police station for questioning. This was notably the first time Harleen began to question whether the "good people" were really good or not.
Harleen slipped out of the police station and ran off to Coney Island -- where she had spent the day with her father -- and was followed by employees of a man Nick owed money to. They held her hostage, using her to lure Harleen's mother there with the money owed. Harleen, using odds and ends from the Fun House she's in (glitter and crazy glue, among other things), manages to get away from her kidnappers. It's when she's chased to a pier that her mother appeared, using a Strong Man mallet as a weapon, and eliminated the threat.
After this incident, her father was imprisoned, leaving Sharon to raise four kids on her own. Between the age of 7 and 18, Harley played the role of second-mother to her younger brothers while her mother worked multiple jobs to keep them afloat and pay for Harleen's gymnastics lessons. The latter paid off because Harleen received a full gymnastics scholarship to Gotham University. Her mother often talked about being 'trapped', as she had been a doctor before meeting Nick and felt like she'd lost the opportunity to pursue her profession after marrying and having kids.
In college, Harleen was premed and learned how to manipulate her professors for better grades. After graduating college she went on to medical school and completed her residency. Her first job as a psychiatrist was at Arkham Asylum where she worked under Dr. Joan Leland. After a failed attempt to create a support group for female prisoners -- during which she caught the eye of Poison Ivy and her reputation caught the attention of the Joker -- Harleen became obsessed with becoming the Joker's therapist (and writing a best-selling book about him) after he managed to get a single rose into her office with a note indicating it was from him.
Over the following months, Harleen's obsession only deepened as the Joker continued to manipulate her and twist her around his finger during intensive therapy. Harleen, of course, was under the impression that she was fully in control of the situation, to the point where her perceptions of things regarding her patient were well and truly warped. Through mental manipulation and subtle (and not-so-subtle) nudges, the Joker convinced Harleen to quietly become a proponent for an off-site swimming program, then guilt tripped her into including him on the first outing to a local swimming pool (he rode in the Arkham transport van while she followed in her car due to limited space in the van). During transport, the Joker escaped, leaving Harleen behind and falsely believing that he had been a victim of the entire escapade.
When Batman captured the Joker and returned him to Arkham days later (and after seriously roughing him up), Harleen snapped, believing that Batman was the villain in this scenario. Harleen decided that she was going to break the Joker out of Arkham while he was still in the infirmary and it was possible (and fairly easy) to do so. She donned her harlequin costume, dubbed herself Harley Quinn, and performed what she believed was a rescue.
In the weeks that followed, Harley nursed him back to health at an abandoned amusement park. To Harley it was a romantic dream come true. Not so much to the Joker, whose less-than-grateful behavior she chalked up to his injuries and pain medication. Once he was well enough to care for himself, Joker contacted his own gang to pick them up and move them to a different hideout. For inexplicable reasons, Harley was included in this move.
Over next 3 months working as the Joker's hench
Far from dead, Harley was found by an officer, arrested, and sent to Arkham as a patient.
While incarcerated and recovering from her own injuries, she received another single rose from the Joker and, instead of tossing it the trash or ignoring it, immediately forgave him.
Harley remained in Arkham for about 6 months before the events of No Man's Land occurred. During this, a catastrophic earthquake flattened Gotham, leaving the city a disaster zone which was impossible to police. Various gangs claimed territory as their own, and the hallmarks of society in Gotham (including Batman) quickly vanished. Harley, locked up in solitary, escaped Arkham shortly after the initial quake and (according to her own recollection of events) hunted the Joker down, once again becoming his henchgirl.
During the approximate year that No Man's Land occurs, the events of Batman: Harley Quinn take place. In true Joker fashion, either because he's fed up with her or because he realizes he has actual feelings for her, he locks Harley in a rocket and attempts to shoot her off into space. Instead, she crash lands in Robinson Park and is found by Poison Ivy. Initially, Ivy is planning on killing her but they develop a bond and, instead, Ivy gives Harley a potion that increases her strength and agility and, most importantly, grants her toxin immunity.
Harley hunts down the Joker again, intent on revenge. Instead, they fought, he apologized, Harley (in her infinite wisdom) forgave and rejoined him.
Months later, Harley aids the Joker in gathering supplies while Joker makes a move to claim territory in The Code. It's during these events that Harley finds a relationship advice book (aptly named... you guessed it... The Code) and begins to act distant from the Joker, drastically flipping their roles so that he feels the need to hang onto and pursue her. Harley ultimately abandons her new cool act when she mistakenly believes Joker has been killed,
immediately returning to her clingy ways once she realizes he's alive.
No Man's Land ended with the Joker staging a large event meant to get Batman's attention. Harley, of course, was right at his side, determined to help 'her puddin'' get Batman's attention if it would make him happy. She aided his plan to steal infants from Gotham General while challenging Batman to find them (among a series of other explosions, shootings, and attacks). Naturally, they were stopped, arrested (which seems to be par for the course for comic villains), and thrown back in Arkham by the end of it.
It's during this particular stay in Arkham that Harley finds herself in the world of Mask or Menace.
PERSONALITY: Harley in a person who is currently living somewhere in the twilight between sanity and insanity. There are times where she's incredibly insightful and her true intelligence shines through; whereas, at other times, her sanity (or lack of) is so astounding that it takes people by surprise. There's a certain duality to Harley, which isn't surprising since her life is so bifurcated between Harleen Quinzel and Harley Quinn. On the one hand, she was a scholarship-achieving gymnast, a quick-witted young woman, and a medical school graduate before arriving at Arkham Asylum for her first psychiatry job. On the other, Harley Quinn can come across as extremely spacey and ditzy with an overwhelming attachment to the Joker. The two sides to her don't seem like they would be readily compatible, but each does have some similarities. On top of that, part of it's an act she uses to her advantage.
Harley's often excitable, full of energy, charismatic, and has no problem making conversation with people. She tends to act a bit on the childish side, and can be flirtatious when it suits her. But, most of the time, there are wheels turning in the back of her head, looking for any sort of advantage or information that can be useful later. Her personality often has people underestimating her intelligence and she's willing to use that to their detriment.
However, though she's typically fun-loving and vivacious, she can also snap at a moment's notice, turning into an absolute whirlwind terror of fury and violence.
She is capable of introspection regarding her relationship with the Joker -- which is often verbally, and sometimes physically, abusive. And she's gone through periods of questioning staying with him. Her loyalty to him seems to always supersede any good judgment, though, and even when presented with other options she's, so far, gone back to him happily (and usually with her metaphorical tail tucked between her legs).
Harley has always enjoyed a good joke, even though the jokes she enjoyed, such as superglueing people to a carnival fun house floor, aren't of the type that most people would admit to finding pleasure in. She's also had an innovative and creative spirit from the start. She has used things such as glitter, glue, metal ball bearings in rubber chickens, and fire extinguishers to protect herself and others. Not to mention the flash-bang bombshells she created on her own. Harley’s also a quick-thinker on her feet. She improvises as necessary and keeps a cool head in otherwise stressful situations.
However, Harley can become extremely obsessive. In her youth, one could have described her as motivated and driven. And that was certainly the truth: she never would have become such a fantastic gymnast or finished medical school without those qualities. But her skewed obsessive personality started to become most obvious while working in Arkham and getting it into her head that she can actually help the Joker. It would have been an impossible job for even the most experienced psychiatrist. But Harley, at the time, was still wet behind the ears (even if she was also incredibly shrewd) and an easy mark (even if she managed to convince herself that she was completely in control of the situation). She began working solely with the Joker as her only patient and his subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) nudges towards getting her to do what he wanted were something she was completely oblivious to.
And, in addition to becoming incredibly obsessive, Harley has a tendency to become possessive. She can’t stand anyone coming between her and “her puddin’”. Not even other members of his gang. Harley sees herself as “special” to the Joker, even when his actions show otherwise. Her possessiveness isn’t limited to just him, though, once she starts to think of something or someone as ‘hers’ it’s nearly impossible to convince her of anything else.
Deep down, Harley wants to believe the best in people, particularly people she thinks society has failed. She has a low opinion of the legal system, the police force, and Batman, believing that they like to kick people who are already down. And that opposing the Bat is a one-way ticket to getting declared legally insane. As a result, she empathizes with criminals more than law-abiding citizens. She’s won over by the Joker’s charisma, and by Poison Ivy’s cool unflappability, thinking of them both as victims of a system that was against them from the start. She’d be equally sympathetic to other villain or ‘bad’ type characters.
Harley also can’t stand the idea of mediocrity — she has a deep-rooted need to be the best at what she does — and she refuses to settle for second best. She thinks the main problem with people in general is that they’re willing to be “good enough” instead of pushing the boundaries of the possible and what’s considered “normal” by society.
She can easily be described as “ride-or-die”. True devotion to other people doesn’t come easily to Harley, but when it does there’s practically no shaking her of it. She’ll invent whatever reasoning is necessary to make that person fit into her world view. She tends to not be completely honest, not even with herself. She’ll make an effort to re-interpret (is: misinterpret) very obvious verbal and visual clues to make herself believe what she wants to believe. She goes so far as to tell herself inaccurate versions of things that have happened in the past to suit her own desires. As a result, she’s not the most reliable narrator.
However, Harley does have the ability to feel compassion. She has a deep-rooted affection for Bud and Lou (her hyenas) and views them in the same light as children. She has an obsessive need to take care of the Joker, her love of and devotion to him exceeding all else. Harley definitely has a softer side, it’s just that not everyone gets to see it. And, for the people who do get to see it, it can become a bit smothering and over-the-top.
She can come across as fearless in some respects, but Harley definitely feels fear, she’s just actually pretty good at hiding it. She’s also volatile and impulsive. Harley can be thought of as easily misguided and manipulated, but, in reality, when she forms a bond with someone, she tends to adapt to their way of thinking. Good influences tend to result in a “good” Harley; bad influences... well, she ends up beating guards over the heads with rubber chickens.
She’s extremely resentful and bitter about the circumstances surrounding her early life. She's always felt like an outsider because of her father's crimes as a con man and his pursuant time in jail. The result of that was her having to juggle school and raising her three younger brothers while her mother worked multiple jobs. In Gotham, her status as an outsider became quickly apparent when she didn’t fall head-over-heels for the way the city was run or for Batman. One of her least favorite phrases spoken by any Gothamite is “you don’t understand because you’re not from around here.”
At her current canon point, her relationships and motivations are pretty much as expected for her preboot-self: she's still unwaveringly loyal to the Joker and desperate for his affection, she still has a personal vendetta against Batman (and anyone who supports Batman, and the police, and heroes in general), and she still thinks the heroes are the real villains in the world and the villains are poor, misunderstood souls.
POWER:
Ivy Potion: In her home world, Harley was given a potion by Poison Ivy which rendered her immune to toxins (including Joker Venom and Ivy's poisonous touch) and enhanced her strength, speed, agility, and stamina. She's nowhere near the level of Superman in this respect, but she is shown blocking a punch from Batman, proving she's stronger than a human male in peak physical condition.
Hyena Telepathy: Harley's been gifted with a telepathic connection with her two hyenas, Bud and Lou, who have accompanied her. (note: this connection exists only with these two specific hyenas). They were fiercely loyal to her before this and would attack people on command, but now she can actually "talk" to them and explain what she wants them to do or call them from a distance to come to her aid.
Clown Car Coin Purse: You know that running gag about how there's this tiny car, a door opens, and about 100 clowns come pouring out? It's pretty much like that: Harley has an itty bitty coin purse that she can fit large items and massive quantities of items in. For the sake of keeping this somewhat reasonable, the amount that the purse can hold is around whatever could fit into a 5,000 sq ft house. So, yeah, she could put an elephant in it, but she couldn't put a high rise in it. Regardless of how much or what she has in the purse, Harley doesn't feel the effect of the weight of those objects; from her perspective, it still weighs as much as a simple, small coin purse. Other people, however, would feel the full weight of whatever’s actually in the purse (ex: if she had an elephant in it, it would feel as heavy as an elephant to that person). Long story short: don’t try to steal her purse. Additionally, there's some sort of life-giving atmosphere in there, because she's able to store living creatures in it for transport or to "hide" them.
〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:
Listen up, ladies and gents.
This is Bud and this is Lou.
Kidding. Kidding.
This is Bud and this is Lou.
( Hint: I didn’t change the pictures and if you didn’t notice, you’re dead to me. )
[ She might or might not be kidding about that. Harley is extremely protective of her hyenas. She's already used to people staring at them in horror and she figures it's not a stretch before people start reporting vicious, dangerous animals in the neighborhood. Maybe start throwing rocks at them. Then she'll really lose her cool. Like she has the least bit of chill to begin with. ]
Point is: they're adorable fluffy babies. And they'll like you better if you hand out treats.
They'll also like you better if you don't look at them and scream in their faces. Just saying.
Anyway, I'm totally in on this heroing schtick. Really. Truly. [ Harley really might have tried her hand at being a hero instead of continuing to cause chaos and mayhem but, well, there are clowns to hire and supplies to collect and hideouts to decorate and, for the love of everything, greasepaint to obtain. So, so much for going the law-abiding citizen route and using her powers for good. ]
What's important to take away from this is that I'mnotdoinganythingwrongandnoonewithabadgeshouldlooktwiceatme.
Ok. Thank you and goodnight.
LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:
1 (TL) | 2
FINAL NOTES: Harley is a fully-trained psychiatrist (ie: she has a medical degree but she lost her license to practice back in Gotham). She's also a highly-skilled gymnast and acrobat. Due to both her relationship with the Joker and some of her behavior being potentially problematic, I do have an opt-out post for her here, and am always going to respect other peoples' wishes regarding any interaction with her.