The Musician and Siren - Harmony Jones
Gender
Female
Age
13
Act
A singing act showing feats of vocal talent unknown to man
Job
Music. Yes, she does all the music for the other acts when she's not performing. From instruments to vocals, this siren is a mistress of all.
Physical Description
Harmony stands (lol) at 5'5", from head to the tips of her fins, weighing in at 125 pounds due to her tail being filled with many more muscles than she had before she joined the circus. Her warm, tan skin compliments her cool lavender scales and provides a stark contrast between human and fish. She has warm, chocolate eyes that pair nicely with her dark brown hair that lands just at her shoulders with a slight curl to the ends. Harmony a slim figure, having wider hips to support her tail when she swims. Given her age and past treatment, Harmony looks younger than she is, looking about ten or eleven, rather than thirteen.
Deformity
Harmony's deformity is quite an obvious one: She has a huge fish tail replacing basically everything below her collar bone. This has led to Harmony being unable to move around on land by her own power, having to rely on others whenever she is out of the water. Though, while in the water, Harmony is an excellent swimmer, and a powerful one at that. Her less visible traits are what make people want to see her perform. Having her voice box altered by both surgery and magic, Harmony can now perform feats of sound unattainable by any human or most animals for that matter, from something classic as breaking glass to making a tone that makes your very bones quiver. If the skill wasn't enough, with the magic that now flows through her voice, Harmony can enchant any who hear it. This can be something as kind as lifting one's spirits to casting them into a trance that would make them walk straight into a watery death to hear it better. The ringmaster is very much unaffected by this magic however and can share this immunity with his more favorite pets though. Harmony can also breath underwater.
Now, with all these benefits, Harmony has to suffer quite a few setbacks. As mentioned, she can't move on land by herself, but she also needs more constant warmth as she can't regulate her own body temperature anymore. While in her practice and performance tanks, this is no problem as they are both heated. However, either it being a way to torment the child or to keep her too lethargic to cause trouble, Harmony's sleeping tank is kept cold. So for the first parts of the day as she warms up, the siren is very docile and heat seeking. Another pain she runs into is that the more she uses her voice, outside of normal human ranges, her throat will begin to burn up in pain. So after a night of performing, the girl can barely speak. She also has the fact that the ringmaster can mute her with a simple wave of a hand, the very thought causing her great unease.
Personality
Harmony is kind of of a little shit to most of the crew, since she feels safe for the first time in her life. No, she doesn't think that nothing can harm her, she knows full well that the ringmaster can and will hand out suffering to anyone he so pleases. No, the reason she feels safe is that it doesn't come completely out of nowhere. If she fumbles a note, she earned that whack to the head, if she caused trouble during someone else's practice, she earned that ten minutes in ice water. She doesn't have to worry about random acts of cruelty because she was given a set of rules for once and she adores this fact. Now, if it's completely true, it's still too soon to tell.
A big problem Harmony runs into (lol) is that her empathy is on the low side, having grown up in a household that didn't nurture being kind or caring to each other, so when one of the other acts are punished, her first reaction is to tell them "You did it to yourself, dumbass". Thankfully, after being screamed at by an act who is now gone, Harmony has been looking to Aveline and Meric for how to react in the right way, as she wants to avoid being screamed at again.
Even though she is only Thirteen, Harmony has very little ambition for her future, having figured she would be dead before she even reached sixteen, let alone adulthood. This thought doesn't bother her, however. It's more a fact of life to her and she just wants to enjoy life in the moment, the future be damned. The teen tends to keep these thoughts to herself as she sees how excited and certain Aveline is about their escape and bright future. Harmony just can't tell her angel that she sees no point in it all or that she's happy here in the circus, the very thought of upsetting the woman was enough to bring the teen to a panic.
Since her mobility has been drastically lowered, Harmony has been learning to build trust with those who carry her around. The siren will not allow a stranger to even volunteer to help her, as she is petrified they would drop her, be it on purpose or accident, leaving her trapped on the ground. To this end, she tends to try to be kinder to those she trusts to carry her, giving less sass throughout the day, giving them a part of her meals, humming a few notes for them, that sort of thing. She's still learning how to interact in a positive manner toward others, so she's basing it off how she saw kids at school treat each other and what she saw on tv.
To say this child is touched staved, is a massive understatement. She craves the times Meric holds her as he carries her around, when Aveline would hold her hand during breaks, hell, she even appreciates when the Ringmaster slaps her simply for the skin to skin contact! To this end, Harmony refuses to be subtle about her wants for physical contact, from grabbing Meric when he walks too close to her tank when he isn't doing something urgent, to flopping her entire tail on Aveline to keep the woman from wandering off should they be out sunbathing. The teen hasn't quite figured out if she even wants to seek out contact from the Ringmaster, for the sole reason that she isn't sure if it's against the rules or not. That, and she doesn't like getting hit and won't go out of her way to get hurt, skin to skin contact or not.
Harmony has a few ticks/stims, they mostly show up when she is feeling especially stressed or excited. They begin chewing her pearls or should she not have her pearls, her fins, tapping on any surface that can make sound and humming. In stressed situations, the chewing is most common, followed up by tapping. The tapping being far more erratic and random, and the chewing becoming more like gnawing. While in times of excitement, she will hum or even quietly sing to herself, followed by tapping in upbeat rhythms. Harmony also taps whenever she is bored, so tapping is her most common tick.
Relationships
Aveline
Harmony absolutely adores Aveline, seeing her as a real angel from heaven when she first saw her perform. It is, in fact, because of Aveline that Harmony ended up in the circus. It was her performance that Harmony saw that led her to writing a song, which she wanted to share with Aveline, so when she saw the Ringmaster scouting out the foster home by her house, she didn't think twice about approaching him with her work. When Harmony was released from "surgery", she was so excited to meet Aveline that she failed to mention the song she wrote or how she got scooped up by the Ringmaster. So, as of now, Harmony has not told Aveline about her meeting the Ringmaster or her seeing Aveline's act before meeting the woman.
The teen looks to Aveline when it comes to interacting with other acts other than her and Meric, as the young woman is far more emotionally intelligent than her. Harmony is very grateful for her patience while being taught how not to be a bitch, er, being more empathic toward her fellow act. The more the teen learns, the more enamored she becomes with Aveline, seeing her as the mother figure she never had growing up.
Harmony craves the love and attention that Aveline gives her, even if it's something small like hearing good morning or being told what to do by the older. She does whatever she can to keep Aveline's attention all to herself, getting huffy whenever the woman pays attention to the others, fighting the urge to cause trouble just so Aveline would scold her. To fight off her possessive nature toward Aveline, Harmony will focus on doing things the woman would approve of, such as "helping" the other acts, working on her music or trying to get Meric's attention. The problem with Harmony trying to help the other acts is, she's kinda shit at it, as her comfort normally comes across as "Don't be an idiot and you won't get hurt. Cool, right?" and her attempts at helping them with their acts comes down to "Do your job or you're gonna die. Maybe. Hopefully you don't die and only get beaten. See? Positive thinking!" Harmony, thankfully, doesn't try to be a good helper often and prefers working on her music or bugging Meric.
Aveline's passion for their escape, and thus freedom, perplexus Harmony. As far as Harmony is concerned, the circus is the best place in the world and wanting to leave is stupid and foolish. But she can't bring herself to share these thoughts with the angel, as the woman's voice is just so full of hope and joy when she talks about their lives after escaping. Whenever Aveline brings up escaping, Harmony feels guilty about her own thoughts on the matter and tries to keep quiet during her speeches, not wanting the woman to know how she really feels for fear that Aveline would reject her and take all the love and affection away from the teen. This fear has kept Harmony up at night many times and has led to many nightmares.
Meric
Similarly to Aveline, Harmony adores Meric with her whole being. What isn't similar is her willingness sass the hell out of the man compared to how she does everything to be a good child toward Aveline. With Meric, Harmony will gripe about her small tank and how she hates that he keeps putting her back into it every night, she'll complain about him taking too long to get her out and bitch about her chains at him. While yes, she knows that none of these things are his fault completely, she only sees him doing this to her and not the Ringmaster, so her mind doesn't make the connection. This doesn't mean she resents him by any means, she knows it's just his job and that he cares about them a lot. At least she knows he cares about Aveline and is nice to herself, Harmony isn't sure about how he feels about the others.
Despite her sass, Harmony does show her admiration toward the man freely in between her bouts of sass, being polite toward him when he carries her around, tries to give him bits of her food (she tries to do the same with Aveline, but she can't tell if the woman notices, given that she's blind and all), and makes up little songs for him. Her favorite way is to simply cuddle into him as he carries her around, tapping on his chest to match his heart beat. Harmony hopes that even when she's being difficult, on purpose or otherwise, he knows how much he means to her. A major reason being that he rarely, if ever mentions escape or freedom, that all she has to be is a good act and everything would be okay. Where Aveline offers hope, Meric offers stability and if the teen had to choose, she would pick stability any day.
With how Harmony is of Aveline, she has it toward Meric as well, but it's less aggressive than with the former. Harmony will mostly just give extra snark if she feels ignored by the man, but knows he is very busy so can't be with her all the time. She doesn't like it, mind you, but she understands it better than with Aveline. But when Harmony is feeling particularly cheeky, she will grab at him from her tank or splash water toward him, avoiding actually hitting him with it as she doesn't know if he would get in trouble for having a wet suit. When she knows he's too busy to deal with her grabbing at him, Harmony will sing at him, mostly narrating what he's doing or making up a ballad of complaints she or the others have at him. It's one of the ways she bonds with her fellow acts, as she collects the complaints from them all. (If this has led to a couple fights where Harmony defends Meric's honor, no one will snitch each other out.)
When Meric has to disciple someone, Harmony has to fight back the fear that he would hit her like her father and brother. She also has to deal with the fact that the man she cares for, is also someone who causes harm to others occasionally. It takes some mental gymnastics for her to deem that the man who holds her and says kind things to her, is different from the man who gives off cold glares and hands out punishments in such a manner that feels too close to home for her. When he does have to hand out punishments, Harmony becomes extremely quiet, and curls into herself, trying to hide from the whole situation. After its all finish and Meric comes to interact with her, Harmony is more dolce and just snuggles into his chest, doing her heart beat tap with quiet hum to accompany it, as she can see that he is upset by his own actions and it's the only way she knows how to cheer him up while she's in this state.
This changes when Morticia is added to the mix, as Meric goes from reluctant disciplinary to a gleeful sadist. This side of the magician shakes Harmony to her core because in those moments, he does become the monsters that haunt her nightmares and memories. Whenever Meric and Morticia are together, the siren feels so lost as her protector becomes a potential abuser and her mind just can't sit straight with this thought. So, she tries to be on her best behavior and ignore the nasty feeling in her chest that tells her that this man is bad and can't be trusted. Sadly, it gets easier every time she does it.
As Meric is the one to carry her around the most, Harmony tends to speak with him about her thoughts more often and more freely, being more blunt with her opinions than she is with Aveline, who she tries to soften her thoughts for. Harmony tries not to share her feelings on escaping, afraid he might tell Aveline about them, but she has slipped up a couple times about liking the circus more than the outside world. She always gives a panic response of "Please don't tell Aveline! I'm sorry!", curling up into herself and hoping the man doesn't hate her. During these moments, it takes a bit of coaxing from Meric to calm her down.
Morticia
Harmony's feelings toward this woman are very mixed. On one hand, she hates her because she steals Meric's attention away from the teen, on another, the woman's cruel actions bring her a sense of familiarity that calms her in a sick sense. Though, because of how random the doctor's curitly is, she terrifies Harmony to her core, but again, Meric seems to like her, so the teen is left confused on what to do. Does she hate the woman for her abusive and cruel actions, or does she learn to put up with it for the sake of one of the most important people in her life now?
During one on one interactions, Harmony is wary, but polite, making sure to not cause the woman a valid reason to hurt her. The teen will try to make herself as quiet and small as possible when the other is around, but not interacting with her. All sense of empathy and caring for others flies out the window should someone anger Morticia when Harmony is around, for the teen will immediately go back to her "You did this to yourself, I'm not getting hurt to help you fix your mess" attitude. Exceptions are made for Aveline however, though this amounts to Harmony trying to discreetly tell the angel to stop whatever she's doing to earn the ire of the mad doctor. It's not that Harmony doesn't care about those who get hurt by this woman, and by extenage, the Ringmaster, it's simply a matter of survival for the teen.
So the doctor is a horrible mix of home comfort and fear for the teen, should she try to make friends with the woman for Meric's sake? Should she avoid the doctor for her own safety? At the end of the day, the way Harmony sees Dr. Morticia as a fearful confusion and hopes to survive this woman long enough to figure out what to do.
Maxi "Mashi"
Mashi is odd in a good way to Harmony, as he is kind and warm toward her, which she likes, but is cold and distrusting toward the others, which when it comes to Aveline, she doesn't like at all. He sits there and talks about things like his time at school or amusement parks and if the siren were to be honest, she's calling fake news on a whole world of fun run by a mouse. Harmony does see that he tries to bring something to her life, what it is, she can't tell. She saw it when he tried to get her a toy of some kind, the teen didn't get a look at it besides it being colorful. The man lost his hand over it, and when she saw his expression when she told him he shouldn't have tried, that it wasn't like she ever had one before so she wasn't missing anything. It's because of these efforts that Harmony tries her best to return the kindness. This can range from her ignoring when he tries telling new acts to take Aveline's advice with a grain of salt, to her trying to sing the songs he has mentioned in his stories. She even deals with the fish puns he makes.
Adrian
Having only known him for a week, Harmony doesn't have many opinions on the other fishy teen. Except for "GET OUT OF MY ROOM! NO BOYS! MY WATER! AHHHHHHHH!" Other than that, she doesn't mind him much.
Deutsch
Mr. Deutsch is much scary, must hide when he's around.
Killian the Ringmaster
This is the man behind the pain, the man responsible for all their suffering. Knowing this, being reminded over and over of these facts, Harmony still asks herself if the ringmaster is the enemy. Yes, she knows he isn't kind or even a decent person by any measure, but in her view, he's a hero. He saved her life! Because she knew she was going to die in that house, sooner rather than later. Harmony sees this circus as the biggest blessing of her miserable life, she gets to practice her craft, she gained a family, a sense of safety and for the first time in her life, she's happy.
This being said, Harmony is still afraid of him. The man can and has, caused harm to her and those she loves. She knows he tortures Meric, took Aveline's eyes and Mashi's hand, he wants to hurt them. She doesn't want to get too close to him, honest she doesn't, but in her mind, he replaced her dad and so, she kinda wants to get to know him better. After all, Aveline is all about being close with family. . . .
It's because of these conflicting feelings that Harmony tries to avoid the ringmaster's attention, always being polite and on her best behavior when discussing the music for the following performance. When Ringmaster is a topic of conversion, Harmony tries to make neutral statements that she knows that others agree with or want to hear, because she's afraid to lie. It's harder for Harmony to sort her thoughts out on the Ringmaster as she can't find anyone to talk about them out with, especially Meric who is her normal sounding board, as his hatred for the man is well known to her.
Newbies
Harmony is willing to get to know them, but knows not to get attached too quickly. Most don't make it anyway.
