boop

yes

just peeking in. it's been a minute

also boops

gentle pat

how are things, friends? you all doing okay? staying out of trouble?

hope things are going okay on your end

less dramatic than it has been! is the short way to describe it

my middle name is trouble!!!!!! >D

HEY JESSIE

it's really good to see you around i hope things have been okay, too

hellooooo

I've been lowkey dipping fingers at rp things recently just to check the temperature of the water

but the water has been very "there's a tdm and nobody is interested in tagging you"

or "I'm going to go hang out at this game what pushed you out because you edited out a player's deadname without filing paperwork in triplicate"

so it's like "oh I don't think I like that temperature" still

I occasionally have blips of "maybe the summertime is a better time to try that game thing again" but then I flash back to "you only have one cast and one person in that cast regularly says cold, disinterested things as if you can't read it" and then I put that back on the shelf too

oh hey you!! I'm so glad to see you again. been wondering how you were

not sure about the game scene these days, but I'm slowly getting back into rp myself and would be happy to write w you if there's ever something you'd like that I can offer

omg hi!!!!

short version is that I started feeling really sad and unimportant and like I was putting a lot of energy into the community that I wasn't getting back from people so I ended up taking a break

what characters are pinging you these days?

maybe you were in the wrong part of the community? I'm just coming back after a very long break, and have honestly been shocked at how warm and welcoming people have been with me

I hope you'll have a similar experience!

Joker is still my main, but I just picked up Cal from Titanic lmao. also thinking about bringing back my Harley, and maybe picking up Darkling from the Grishaverse books

but I'd play just about any villain you wanted that I knew

also I'm doing my daughter's lunch rn so sorry for slow replies!

no don't apologize!

in my extended fam, someone's got a 1 year old so I know how they can just slurp up all the available hours

yours is... 2 now? 2 and a half?

I know she was a pandemic baby but I can't remember how deep into the pandemic she came

she turned 2 in March! and yes lol I don't get much done until she's asleep at night, but she's such a delight I don't even really mind

she's over here chatting about chef hats atm lol

the most important discourse

Hi Jessie!

oh but sharkattack if you're still in your Joker era, I've been leaning pretty hard into Dick Grayson lately. I go through phases but he's my forever boy and I've got like 80 journals for different versions of him

reaches at from vacation town I was thinking about you the other day, hoping you're doing well

dick!!

oh, I would love to play against him!

he's a great character

could be fun to throw Harley at him, too, if that appeals more than Joker. she and Dick have a ton in common

hanging around with toxic people because you think you can fix them?

lmaaao well I mean

that too

well, he has his circus background, and she was a competitive gymnast, so they both grew up doing intense physical things for people's approval

and are both still super physical people who are still smart as hell (which others don't always see coming)

they're both in the shadow of the mentors who made them, but have kind of grown beyond their initial sidekick role

they both use those emotionally unavailable mentors as family substitutes

they're both playful brats lmao

but have a serious side to them, and a kind of steely resolve and inner strength that again can surprise people

and they both, deep down, want to help people

so yeah, I'd say very similar actually lol

boop

sharkattack: thats all very true! and they're both inherently people pleasers who take on too much responsibility while also pretending that it takes no effort. but the amount of work that goes into making everything lookn graceful and easy is intense

and it manifests differently for them? bc like half of the dc universe will show up to help dick move apartments while half of the rogues are like "ew why did you bring Harley she's so annoying"

but also all keep her in the network because she knows people

suicide squad was so good about investigating that?? the idea that she had infinite protection because of who she hooked up with but then word spread that the protection wasn't there anymore and she just had to be resourceful and save herself? straight fire.

They're both kind of stepford smilers too, because admitting you're a human with emotions is just opening a whole bunch of stuff nobody should be burdened with

this is all true, although I would clarify that Harley's protection didn't come from being a hookup but from straight-up belonging to Joker

he's had a ton of hookups that nobody blinks at lol, but you don't touch something that's his

which, for a woman like Harley, is an interesting predicament to be in

but yes, good points! and I'm glad my TED talk didn't scare you away lmao

not at all! I live for character analysis 👀

and yeah, I think the possession element of harley/joker is always kind of a spectre. it's the stuff thats harder to talk about, because it involves unpacking a lot of the slimier elements

because we have these funny cartoon gangsters, but no actually this is a culture that engenders fear and violence and doesn't blink at the domestic elements of it

and since we're in a comparative space rn I think the thug element also structures how Gotham at large perceives the both of them. nobody gives a fuck about Robin as Robin, but as an extension of Batman he has a role and a function.

kill the bird to hurt the bat where he's most vulnerable

effectively the same as keying the car

but that social element also has its limits - bc you don't actually want batman coming at you for revenge for killing his thing, so you just kidnap it and rough it up a little and try to grab what you can while the distraction is good

Joker is in the elite echelon that transgressed those boundaries. He'll kill a bird, nbd. bit because he's that erratic and volatile, his things are just as precious. to be insulted and pushed around, but never soiled

ohh I'm gonna have to come back to this when I'm not chasing a toddler, bc I have way more opinions on all of that than I can express atm lol

I will say, though, that I don't see Joker and Harley as slimy. more "extremely kinky and complicated," but that's a whole giant conversation

I also think "erratic and volatile" is the image Joker wants to present, but not who he really is

I mean, yes, he's volatile, but not in a random way. he's extremely calculating

oh oh yes I agree there! I was using "slimy" in place of "complicated" It's the blurring of consent and the gaslighting and the physical/emotional abuse and all the things that are difficult to talk about while we're being generally upbeat

you've spent a lot more time unpacking Joker-specific things though, and I'm interested in your angle

also ALSO unrelated but since I'm camping out in this plurk today

off in PSL land, Dick is planning an intel mission and considering how to spy unseen without knowing the terrain beforehand

and poison ivy goes "You're going to make this all a thing, aren't you? Really over complicate it."

and I'm just like.

YES this is Bats in a nutshell

there's a front door right there and none of them will ever consider it as an option