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1x1 with Sarcastrophe
1x1 Sarcastrophe World to Explore: Circus Gotham hadn’t always been the fun of the fair for Harley, or at least for Harleen Quinzel and like most it wasn’t a city made for fairytales, but in a way her twisted dreams had become a reality - in their own little way. A city so dark that a young teen on the streets sought after no cause for concern. Where a lost family member meant only that there was one less mouth to feed. A tale of a mother who knew not how to keep favourites hidden, how to keep families together and whose heart had a grip on Gotham’s crime ridden city in a tragic way. She spent more time alone than with the man of her dreams, who had often picked pockets over his lady. He’d stuck around to bring around four children, the second of whom was his only girl. In his mind she’d have ran away to marry someone which and not bother him again, but his prediction had only been half right.
At the age of fourteen Harleen had said her mental goodbye and ran from home, climbing high to spend the night in a Ferris Wheel capsule only to be rescued by the owner, and without too many questions, Harleen Quinzel became Harley Quinn a member of the circus, acrobat and favoured aerialist, due to her perceived love of heights after her Ferris Wheel climb. It was almost crazily simple to take on a new life, but again it was Gotham City and she wasn’t missed by any means.
Of course many of those titles took effort and weeks of hard work to gain, years to believe she’d earnt. Her mother had never let her dye her hair, and to stand out, to be the ‘one’ the Circus to steal Haly’s spotlight, Harley’s whole persona was crafted from scratch . The blonde quickly changed to a pinky-red, and a light blue look, standing out from the rest of the group, which was half the point. With her gymnastics background, they literally threw her into training. She wasn’t a typical travelling girl and it showed, but Gotham needed someone to relate to, and for some reason Kopski believed it was Harley.
Things spiralled quickly, everything got busy, shows started to boom, Kopki keeping her close on the belief she could be more - what exactly she wasn’t to know for years, but his son had a different path for her, one of romance. A path most travelling children started young, he’d previously been betrothed to another girl, but his heart’s affections had flickered to Harley a decision shown to be deadly once Gilda found out. As she was thrown into the spotlight, Harley still took notice of those around her, she hadn’t asked to take on this role, if anything it just meant the Quinzels were more likely to find her. But they’d cast her to take the spotlight, and so she’d play that role where the lights were all around her but that didn’t mean she didn’t notice. There was always room for talent somewhere, at least that’s what she believed, but she wasn’t to know how far out of her way everyone was pushed. How many buttons she pressed simply for existing.
Then she was told to step up her game, become fearless in other ways. Focused on keeping things going, not having much to do behind the scenes, aside from the train of course, she knew very little of the world outside the main tent and her own trailer. All she knew was that things kept going, even when they shouldn’t have. Not even when you had a proposal on your hands. With Guy on one knee in front of her Harley stood no chance of being able to refuse. To keep her place, to keep what she knew she accepted. The show must go on, and it always had under Kopski’s reign and there was no chance to put on the brakes. She sealed her own fate, and that of several others, even when she wasn’t sure it was what she wanted.
Dynamics shifted just a little behind the show, as her ‘yes’ had pushed Gilda out of the Kopski’s circle. She’d been special, she’d been his girl for years and it was her he was supposed to marry. Now some bimbo had come straight in, completed a few tumbles and stolen the show from every second, third and fourth generation circus performers. Those whose lives had revolved around since before Harley was even born. It was unfair and then there was Kopski rubbing her face in it every three seconds with the red and blue ‘quinntessional’ member of the team like he knew what he was doing. Like he was building her up for something more, but as far as almost everyone was concerned, there wasn’t anything more than this. Glida had nothing but a blind hatred for the woman who had stolen the man she was destined to marry. Their parents had approved of the future marriage three years before she’d dropped into the circus and should have dropped off the Ferris Wheel to save everyone the hassle.
In her own train of thought, Jeremiah had come to her place. It wasn’t unheard of for him to join her, but this visit had a different air to it. She gasped as the knife was pulled to her throat, frozen in place. At first she was expecting the worst, the look in his eyes almost matching that of what she believed death to be. Anyone else would’ve screamed but she was silent as it seemed all her aspirations were slowly going to come true. She just had to take matters into her own hands, Jeremiah aiding her by providing the measures. That night she’d killed Guy without warning, the morning after all hell broke loose.
Harley Quinn woke up to a broken lock on her trailer, and a gun on her desk she didn’t recognise. The girl knew better than to touch it as her world collapsed around her. She didn’t have to understand everything and the area was surrounded by police and ambulances, but two dead bodies on Kopski grounds meant business. Clearly a targeted attack since both Kopski, and Guy had been killed. Harley was supposed to have known what it all meant. Days earlier, she’d been gifted a ringmaster hat, had been told it wasn’t needed just for the ring. It hadn’t made any sense at all back then but within a few weeks what she knew about the Kopski’s expanded indefinitely.
Trying to find her own clues, believing it to have been an inside job Harley had found a set of keys in Kopski’s trailer that fitted nothing on site but luckily an address was attached. A supposedly abandoned warehouse was where things had made sense and where the Harlequin became far more than she ever anticipated. The circus had simply been a front for Kopski’s other exploits, namely drugs and weapons trafficking into Gotham City. Now believing the hits to have been a message, a loss of a deal all potential suspects lined a makeshift wall in the warehouse. Learning what she could of the criminal underworld the female quickly had to find her feet as playing Mafia wasn’t a sport where you could learn on the job and make mistakes. Her list of suspects never faded but balancing the two worlds, covering the deaths, well she wanted her own personal revenge for these. Kopski had been preparing her to take on this legacy, but her own vendettas would have to wait until the time was right. T O D A Y
She was out of the tent tonight, knife strapped to her garter just in case, booting up the Carnival’s Ferris Wheel. She’d told her client where to meet for a deal, said she’d make it obvious amongst the almost dilapidated park. The Circus tent was the only thing used anymore and even that was barely keeping itself afloat with new performers drifting in and out all of the time. But that wasn’t important, she could inject the cash as needed to keep up the façade. Having the circus deal with a financial blow was nothing compared to dealing with Cobblepot. Underestimation was a pretty powerful tool in Gotham and given the fact she still had her head on her shoulders, she’d have thought they’d learnt their lesson.
Harley had an entirely new perspective on the carnival and had every intention of re-opening it all. It’d take time, money and effort but it’d keep the façade, almost perfecting the identity. The circus had almost died with Guy and Kopski, and it was time to bring it all back under her own name. She’d been labelled ‘Kopski’s girl’ from day one, but it wasn’t about that any more. She was Harley Quinn, Ringmistress of the Boardwalk Circus and Gotham City and that was a title she planned to keep. The one amusement she’d kept working was the beloved Ferris Wheel she’d climbed all those years ago - the only thing really alive from back then, which was as ironic as it was sick.
Unfortunately for her, her client was a no show - the time for them to show up had disappeared. Clearly they weren’t ready to talk or they’d set her up but either way, things weren’t happening as planned. She made a mental note to halt the next shipment until they’d come to such an agreement, but it was frustrating when she wasn’t listened too. Taking her knife from its sheath it flew through the air, as she twirled, hitting the bullseye behind her. It was the middle of three dartboards, off an old stand that hadn’t been used for at least as long as she could remember. Forty points for a cuddly teddy that was at least now half chewed by the vermin scurrying throughout Gotham.
She was ready to go back inside, as she heard a voice unable to place it in either of her two worlds. Unsure whether to go professional, or simply friendly she took a cautious step away from the sand towards the male’s voice. Her thoughts were measured, precise, choosing every word with care so as to not offend, but also to keep herself very closed off. For all she knew her client had sent this male here instead to shake her up, but being scared wasn’t in her vocabulary.
β Call it practice fer old times’ sake I suppose but doesn’t that really depend on who’s askin’? I wouldn’t want to stray too far from what you want, you know my name but what about yours. Sounds like the best place to start, since you’re on Circus property after all. β
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