Name:Hadley Harper
Nickname (if applicable): Haddie
Age: 27
Occupation (if not playing a student):  Fashion designer. Seamstress.
Special Skills/Abilities: Hadley Harper  has a relatable way about her. She has always been willing to talk to anyone and treats the janitor the same way she does the CEO. She can talk about anything from the weather, to politics, and never gets upset over any topic. Religion? Sure, she'll talk about that. Politics? She doesn't mind listening to or talking about the state of the union. You want to talk about a rock? It may not be that interesting to her but she gives everyone the attention she would want to have.
Faceclaim: Alexandra Daddario
Theme Song: I Hope You're Happy
Physical Description/Distinguishing Features: Someone once said that beauty is power and a smile, a sword. If that is the case, then Hadley Harper has been well-equipped from her adolescence.   She has heard the word 'beautiful' drip from the lips of both savior and snake but when looking at her reflection it has been hard to see anything past the failure that has painted itself onto her flesh and into her very being.

The young woman was not blessed with much height, but that was to be expected since both of her birth parents are on the average side in this area. Even during her youth, she was a slender individual and her fast metabolism and constant need for an activity kept her that way. At first, she hated to be referred to as 'knees and elbows' but since hitting adulthood she is pleased with the way her body works (she knows one day it may catch up with her.)

Her blemish-free flesh is the color of porcelain and smooth to the touch. It doesn't matter how long she spends in the sun, she can't maintain much pigment and has finally given up trying to look like the beach babe she has always admired. chocolate-colored locks hang in waves, framing her face and contrasting perfectly with her pallor. While this is her natural color, she has sported different hair colors over the years that range from blonde to purple, and to the inky darkness that it is now.

The most noticeable feature about Haddie is her ethereal blue eyes, which are the only thing that she inherited from her father. She has received more comments about their color than anything else, physically. Dark, tattooed eyeliner and thick, black lashes frame them, causing them to appear even brighter and more alluring.

Another thing people have complimented her on is her laugh and smile. When that gesture spreads across her full lips it lights up everything on her face and reaches the very depths of her eyes, making people believe she is okay even though, deep down, she knows she isn't. Her laughter is infectious, loud, and one of a kind.

The best way to describe her clothing choices is grunge. She has always had a knack for turning unwanted clothing and shoes into something stylish, which is what led her to pursue a degree in fashion. To this day, her favorite article of clothing is an overside t-shirt she stole from Finn back in their College days.

Personality Description: Even in her adolescence, Haddie was considered a flighty individual.   She was constantly moving from one project to the next and never able to settle on one activity.    She tumbled easily into boredom which led to her getting into trouble more easily than other children. This boredom would cause impulse behavior, such as: tapping her pencil on her desk, staring out the window instead of listening to lectures, and the constant need to be moving.

Unfortunately, she was a victim of the foster care system and because of that, she did not get the adequate medical attention she probably needed for what her foster parents labeled ADHD. The caretakers she ended up with throughout her time in the system did not care about the child, as long as they received the benefits that came with having a delinquent in their home.

As she got older, she learned her own coping technics with the sporadic way her brain worked which helped her grades improve during middle school.   Her personality often fluctuated with her circumstances and has ranged from outgoing, to completely closed in, to verbally lashing out at others.

Because her brain is wired differently, she doesn't have much of a filter and can (at times) speak out of turn. She was often labeled as disrespectful to those in authority because of this, but she really didn't mean it. She just had a hard time controlling her thoughts and holding her tongue.

What a difference time and maturity can make...

While still sometimes sporadic, Hadley has made huge improvements since her younger days. Today, she is a rather level-headed individual that has spent the past four years traveling the world and working on herself, battling her inner demons, and discovering what exactly makes her 'tick.'  She still enjoys being busy and sometimes speaks without a filter, but she is not what she once was.

There are also times she appears lost in thought and will stare off into nothing until someone brings her back to the present. Whether this is simply a personality trait that continues from her youth or side effects from her experiments during her college years is anyone's guess.

Likes and Dislikes (non-sexual):

Likes:
Caffeine:She traded all the drugs of her youth for this one but sometimes she wonders if this addiction is even stronger. Even though she has spent the past four years dealing with her past and attempting to make a change for a better future, there are still demons in her darkness that keep rearing their ugly head at nightfall. Because of her past, she refuses to take any type of medication that may help with sleep, so she rarely rests and therefore, needs a pick-me-up to help her get through the day. This could be anything from coffee, to soda, to tea and energy drinks.

Thrift Stores: She loves to turn someone else's trash into treasure. She can spend hours in thrift shops looking through the clothing, jewelry, shoes, etc.   She believes this comes from being told she was not worth anything growing up and finally finding some self-worth.

Traveling: Hadley has a difficult time staying in one place for long periods of time - she has never known anything else. During her years in the foster system she was moved from home to home, then after leaving home she never stayed in one place more than two years before she headed somewhere different. Living out of a suitcase has become a norm for her but she loves seeing new places, from the smallest of towns to the largest of cities.

Board Games: Her favorite to play is Aggravation but she'll play just about anything from Sorry! to Magic the Gathering and everything in-between. Her father and her use to sit around and play board games since they couldn't afford television on their limited income. This gave them a proper pass-time and it is something she does regularly with Noah* (see below) If someone takes the time to teach her, then she is eager to learn. She also loves high stakes games which, in the past, have gotten her into a lot of trouble.

Other: She also likes when people look her in the eyes when she is talking. She spent her entire adolescence with people that didn't care what she said or why she was saying it, so she appreciates when people are attentive to her now - even if she is rambling about nothing.


Dislikes:

Destructive Individuals: Hadley has every right to dislike these specific individuals of society because she was once one. Because of her past, she attempts to stay as far away from them as possible so that they don't bring out a part of her that she has spent years attempting to shake off.

Snow: Some people like the purity of the white blanket as it lays beautifully upon the ground but she despises it. Yes, boots and scarves are adorable, but she can't stand the cold or the snow, which is why she is drawn to the beach and ocean towns.

Decaff: Just don't...

Other: People that attempt to use their wealth and power to bully individuals that may not be in the same 'class' as them (whatever that means.)  At one point in her life, she simply walked away, but now she actually has things in her life that can be used to persuade her into bending - if the need arose.


History: There was a time in Hadley Harper's life when the tragedy was something that happened in over-rated movies - happiness abounded, and laughter bounced off the walls of their home. Over the years, the memory has faded, but she thinks she still hears her mother's laughter every once in a while.

When she was seven years old, her parents were in a tragic car accident that took the life of her mother and unborn baby sibling. Her father, Abraham Harper, spent several weeks in intensive care before being released from the hospital and sent home. After the accident, Abe had several injuries that kept him from working much, so they lived on disability and what little he could make from side jobs. Her once happy-go-lucky father fell into depression and turned to alcohol, which consumed him and his entire life.

Eventually, he lost the ability to care for Haddie, and she was removed from his home until he decided to attend rehab and could show the court system that he was capable of raising a child properly, but it wasn't an easy fix and Abe failed his house inspections numerous times which left Hadley in the system.

The foster care system can be wonderful. There are people out there that truly love what they do and love the children that come through their home like one of their own. Unfortunately, Haddie did not experience the system's sunny side.

Her new family only had two other children in the home, all of them were girls of a similar age, and it did not take Hadley long to figure out why. Over the next three years, she added physical abuse onto the mental abuse from the previous years - she saw some of the darkest parts of foster care. The threats that he whispered to them still haunt her to the present day. It was during this time that Hadley's flighty behavior began. Everyone believed it was just the overwhelming change in her young life; they said it would go away once she finished mourning the loss of her parents and settled into a new routine.

One bad night, Hadley had enough of watching her 'sisters' suffer and lashed out at the man that had bullied them for far too long. This specific night she ended up in the emergency room with several broken ribs and black eyes from the beating that was given to her after her outburst. She suffered, but it had the effect she wanted and within a few hours, all of the girls were out of the home and the couple was placed behind bars without bail.

 By this time, her father had completed the appropriate classes, passed his drug test, and held a steady part-time job at a furniture store. Things would never go back to normal, though. Her father still suffered from depression and anxiety which, at times, caused him to verbally lash out at his daughter, only to turn around and apologize hours later. She always accepted his apology, but she carried the weight of his illness on her shoulders and began to look for ways to escape.

At the age of sixteen, she experimented with her first drug, and the euphoria she felt after was a welcome embrace - addictive behavior obviously ran in the family. At first, she was careful. She made sure that her grades did not suffer so her father wouldn't notice a change in her because she knew if she was reported, the state would send her right into rehab.

 Haddie knew that rehab wouldn't help keep the demons at bay and her only hope at a brain that wasn't all over the place was the drug that was presented to her. At this time, Hadley was not so far gone that she didn't realize what she was doing was improper and not the road she needed to continue walking down, she didn't want to disappoint her dad after he had tried so hard to get her back from the system that abused her, but she had found the one thing that helped ease her pain. The one thing she had been looking for all these years.

It wasn't until the age of eighteen that she truly lost herself in the lifestyle that had been beckoning her like a wanting lover. Her father, Abe, died of a sudden heart attack. To Hadley, it felt like the cycle was starting over again and she really didn't want to experience any more pain or loss. So, she requested stronger drugs, began to drink alcohol, and would do anything to get what she wanted - including sleeping with whoever she needed to.

 And she liked it.

She went from drug to drug, from drink to drink, and from person to person, using whoever and whatever to fill that void those years of trauma had left inside of her. Now, she had no one left to put a show on for - there was no one left for her to impress. Hadley was on a destructive path, burning bridges, and bringing people down with her, but it was all worth it to feel the numbness that came with each hit.

And then, she met Finn.

She knew he was different from when she first laid eyes on him. The goodness that radiated from him was not something she saw from the society she had surrounded herself with. He was odd, but his quirks were endearing, and she found herself drawn to him, the same way she had been drawn to the drugs.

The fact that his family would not approve only made her more drawn to him, and before long, she had enticed him to join her in the chaos of her current lifestyle. The surface was tempting and not difficult to draw him to, getting him to dive in deeper and deeper with her until they were both so far below that they didn't know which way was up. With each passing day, she became more eager to open up the world to him and show him the endless possibilities that came with everything she had discovered.

Eventually, as everything does, the world she had submerged herself into caught up with her. She owed too many debts to too many people, and there was no one around to really help her except for Finn, and she refused to admit that she had messed up. The fact that she didn't want to disappoint him was another red flag that brought her back to reality - caring for someone in that way was not on her list of things to accomplish.

 Love was worse than any drug, and she refused to succumb to its power.

 So, she did the only thing she knew to do - she ran. She ran from her dealers, her debts, her desire, and her addictions, and she disappeared as if she had never been there.

Over the past four years, she has done everything possible to fix the mess she once was. And it has not been easy; in fact, Hadley believes it has been the most difficult thing she has ever done, but life is better now than it was then. She is better now than she ever was before and finally, she doesn't feel like a failure to her parents or the Harper's memories. She finished college and now does something that has always made her happy - designing and creating clothing. Substance abuse is a thing of her past, but it is a battle that she must fight daily and she knows, deep down, it is a slippery slope she could slide down at any moment.

Even though she never sought counseling, over the years, she has slowly started releasing the boogeymen that have haunted her dreams since she was seven years old. Like the substances, it is an uphill battle, and even the smallest of things can trigger her post-traumatic stress syndrome, but she is gaining ground by taking it one step at a time.

But, every action has a consequence, and just because a person runs does not mean they will ever be fast enough or go far enough to get away from the reaction.

She has moved every nine to 12 months for the past four years. She hopes Breckenridge will be different and that it is (finally) far enough away from her past so that the shadows haunting her will not darken her doorstep again.

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