bio. temporary placeholder. it's messy
alice marielle harmon. cis woman, she/her. bisexual. former child prodigy burdened by the weight of genius. professional asshole/musician/poet/novelist/antithetical nightmare girl making it everyone else's problem. * fc: daisy edgar-jones (primary/default) + ella hunt & stacy martin (alts). unofficial bonus reference is keira knightley but significantly less elegant and more socially awkward.
aliases. previously performed under the stage name 'liddell', a moniker given to her at the beginning of her career in an attempt to brand her as eclectic; abandons the name in her mid 20s. will never respond to it like it's her own name anyways.
nicknames. acceptable, provided that she likes and trusts someone enough. ally/allie is commonly used and acceptable, spelling doesn't matter. occasionally referred to as liss in some close relationships. generally doesn't usually mind terms of affection from the right people.
date of birth. august 30. default age is approx. 25-27 in most threads, but i know where she goes throughout most of her life and can write her at most ages.
ethnicity. french, scottish, and irish canadian.
nationality. dual french-canadian citizenship. born and raised in vancouver's hasting-sunrise neighbourhood until she was 14, later relocated to new york's east village.
current location. primarily lives in park slope, brooklyn by default, but has the means to travel or relocate. we will put her wherever is most convenient for you.
languages. fluent in english and quebecois french; occasionally slips into the latter, but mostly just the region-specific curse words. has an understanding of standard french unless you have a heavy accent or talk too fast.
psyche. diagnosed with chronic depression and unspecified feeding or eating disorder (ufed), which she spent time in mental health facilities for during her early 20s. undiagnosed autism, c-ptsd, ocd, a whole lot of sensory issues, and potentially other things that have yet to be unpacked. semi-aware but also ignoring it all; not coping as well as she thinks she is. usually unmedicated and not attending therapy until she's in her mid 30s.
religion & spirituality. agnostic-ish, but convinced that every bad thing that's ever happened is because god is her rival who is punishing for having a corrupt soul. does not understand what astrology is and at this point, too afraid to ask.
height. five feet and six inches. tends to appear a little smaller than she is, due to overprotective body language.
eyes. brown. very large. either avoiding contact or initiating a staring contest. rarely falls anywhere in the middle. it's been described 'magnetic', just as much as it's been described as 'unsettling'. we'll leave that to the people to decide.
hair. brown, naturally has a slight wave. usually between shoulder and elbow length. almost always has curtain bangs.
body language. naturally gives off a vibe of a distant acquaintance you've just encountered at a wake or the girl you knew in 7th grade who never spoke but once stabbed another kid with a pencil. alice is habitually masking at least 80% of her emotions at all times. defaults to polite but stoic in most situations. will be standoffish or mean to you if you give her the opportunity. possesses more outward emotion if you're engaging with her in something she understands/cares about. capable of being warm and affectionate once you unlock level 70, but i can assure you that it will not solve anyone's problems.
speaking voice. alice's default speaking voice is noticeably monotone; easily mistakable for bored, apathetic, and/or cold. neutral accent, only vaguely canadian if she says something incriminating. voiceclaim is usually referencing this video with sarah gadon reading franny and zooey. has (slightly) more vibrance when she's around people she's comfortable with.
distinguishing marks. a jagged scar by her left ear, usually covered by hair. she will never tell you how that got there.
singing voice. naturally falls into the mezzo-soprano category, but possesses an extended range with training and discipline and more importantly, obsession. clear, smooth, and melodic. frequently described as (mostly by me) the voice of a ghost echoing through a haunted house.
instrumentation. considered a child prodigy when she first began playing piano in elementary school, later taught herself to play guitar, piano, organ, bass, and theremin. she can figure out the basics of most instruments easily on her own, but can only master what she really sets her mind to.
lyricism. alice considers herself a writer before she is a musician and it tends to show; the lyrics tend to read like poetry or folktales. she likes to throw in references to classic literature, namely shakespeare, emily brontë, mary shelley, shirley jackson, henry miller, and anaïs nin. often morbid, dreary, and gothic.
genres. quite literally all over the place. her roots are in folk rock, but tends to get experimental so she doesn't go mad with boredom and burn the studio down. you'll hear a mix of grunge, baroque, shoegaze, art punk, and indie in the same place.
influences. her number one guy of all time is jeff buckley and she will talk about him at any time if you ask. also grew up listening to patti smith, feist, portishead, françoise hardy, leonard cohen, elliott smith, and cat power. she's also like, been trying to rip off françoise hardy's haircut and style her entire life, but that's a whole other thing.
references. [this is a different section because these aren't artists she is listening to, but i hear her in them. i know, this drives me crazy too.] lucy dacus, sharon van etten, phoebe bridgers, wolf alice, the last dinner party, and emily wells all have songs that could have been ghostwritten by her. occasionally hozier and father john misty gives us something useful. other things i'm sure. i'll link a playlist here eventually.
recurring themes. contradictions. obsessed artists. prolonging one's own suffering for the sake of said art. awkward silences with god. lifelong identity crisis. killing your idols. expectations vs reality vs perception. pursuit of catharsis. narration so unreliable that even the narrator doesn't know what she's talking about.
character influences. amanda and lily (from thoroughbreds). beth harmon (from the queen's gambit). camille preaker (from sharp objects). carmen berzatto (from the bear). cheyenne toussaint (from etoile). daisy jones (from daisy jones & the six). india stoker (from stoker). lucy van pelt (from peanuts). marianne sheridan (from normal people). ray schleine (from uptown girls). sydney barrett (from legion).
her best friends are a stray cat named henry miller (she/her) and a 12 year old girl named lily presley (also she/her) who lives in her building. she's better with pre-teen girls and cats than she is with any adult human because they usually speak her language.
semi-estranged from both parents. she has two younger half-brothers named leo and lyle on her father's side, but there is also this recurring bit where she forgets that they exist. if you ask about them at any given moment, it will probably take a couple minutes before she remembers their existence or their names. it's s a whole thing.
groomed into a professional and "romantic" relationship when she was a teenager by musician and producer roy taylor. she's written a significant amount of his most acclaimed work and hasn't been credited for it. the public still affiliates her with him and generally assumes that the relationship began much later than it did. she will never talk about it openly or publicly.
very much not a person who enjoys being a public figure, but also does not know a life without that. it's a job requirement and she doesn't know how to do anything outside of music or literature. also a whole thing. she's mad about it, but it is what it is.
disclaimer: alice is considered "gifted" by definition, but i (merricat) do not fuck with this term, nor the ableist/classist rhetoric that tends to coincide with it. the word would be assigned to her by professionals, but we are choosing to reject it because we do not support eugenics. anytime we talk about alice's intellectual abilities and supposed giftedness, please know that we are doing so with a big sticker that says "strongly disagree with the labeling that's been used here".
this is all you are getting from me right now. she kinda sucks to be around. more on this later. hope this helps.
