HarleyQuinn

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The bright eyed spiral was brought in by her smug father. He'd snuck away for a week and suddenly returned with this miniature version of himself. Their leader had not been happy, it had taken much bargaining on Alizarins part to keep his daughter from being shipped from the lair. Now he loved to show her off, the perfect mirror image of himself.

Harley, however, was just confused. Especially about her fathers mate, Zaffre. Perhaps it had been too optimistic on Alizarins part to expect his mate to accept this hatchling from an illicit breeding with open wings. The child might have looked like him, but Zaffre showed no care for the little one. Even though she swiftly forgave Alizarin himself, it was clear the poor spiral was nothing more than a reminder of his one-night stand and she refused to take part in her caregiving.

While Zaffre showed no interest, Alizarins own interest in his child was sporadic, some days he boasted and bragged about her, others he didn't give her a thought. And if she was doing something he didn't approved of, he'd flat out ignore her.

Harley craved attention. The warming pride of her father and the mothering care of Zaffre were all she wished for.

So she tried to be perfect.

She tried to do everything he father wished, tried to go above and beyond with any task to make him turn his head and praise her. She tried to be quiet and well behaved for Zaffre, to give the dragon no reason to dislike her. She tried so hard to make them want to be around her.

It wasn't hard for her to make friends exactly, but she didn't want their attention, she wanted her parents attention. And she was far too focused on being perfect to have the time to invest in friendships.

But shortly after entering adolescence, Zaffre snapped at her one day, telling her outright she had no care for the spiral and never saw her as anything remotely close to family.

Hurt and upset, Harley went to see her father. Who told her to drop it and to stop bothering Zaffre so much.

Bothering her? But she'd tried so hard to do anything but bother the two of them! If they wanted to be bothered, she'd give them that.

And so Harley snapped.

She now spends her days doing whatever she damn well pleases, causing chaos in her wake. And the more havoc she created, the more she liked it, the more she did it and the more her mental state deteriorated. And the more troublesome her antics were. But the leader of their clan rarely steps in, claiming the embarrassment it causes Alizarin and Zaffre is nothing but the karma of the gods.

Harley forms fleeting attachments to others which she gives little care about investing time and effort into. What does it matter to her what happens to anyone else? Sure, she liked it when others would laugh at the tricks she played, but from now on, she's looking out for number one.

At least, she was. Until a young green hatchling with wings an even more striking red than Harley's own strutted into the lair. Her linage was nothing spectacular. A wandering male had come into the clan, gone off to a nature lair and then returned with the hatchling and her siblings as offerings in exchange for a place within the clan.

Harley watched bemused as their leader took one look at the self entitled little creature with its shimmering wings and snorted to herself. With little remorse she exchanged the siblings for treasure and sent the father on a one-way trip to the battlegrounds. The little proud one was named Ivy and kept.

Harley soon found herself trying to trick the little one, like she did with most of the hatchlings. Ivy, however, was far too vain to indulge the older dragon and dismissed her, Harley however, was not pleased with the idea of being ignored again so she persisted. So much so that the irritated young one finally turned to her and said 'just because you're the only creature here that makes me laugh doesn't mean you should always act like such a fool!'

She was confused. Amusing the dragon had never been the idea. But the thought that she could make the full-of-herself female down to earth enough to laugh, at least a little, gave her a feeling she couldn't shake.

So she changed tactics. That was the plan now. To make Ivy laugh. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't. Harley was content with that. Until Ivy had to throw her through a loop again by growing into a particularly stunning adult, tossing a green scarf at her dismissively during a festival and saying in the most nonchalant tone. "You're the only dragon here I like almost as much as my flowers."

And so Harley fell in love.