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[personal profile] fixuplooksharp
[Player name] Kimi
[Age] 20something idek
[Personal Journal] [personal profile] embody
[Other characters currently played]
Motonari Mouri / Sengoku Basara / [personal profile] nichirin

[Character name] Harvey Specter
[Age] "Older than 35", god I need to stop playing characters with ambiguous ages
[Canon] Suits
[Point in time taken from canon] FUCK IF I KNOW REWATCHING THIS SERIES IS PAIN (end of Season 1)

[Background]
Suits Wikipedia Page

Not much of Harvey's background is revealed apart from what happens in the series. He started in Pearson Hardman's mailroom, progressed up the ranks, went to Harvard Law under the auspices of Jessica Pearson, had a short stint as a prosecutor and is now senior partner at Pearson Hardman at the time of the series.

[Personality]
"So, I'd say the ball is in your court, but the truth is, your balls are in my fist. Now I apologize if that image is too pansy for you, but I'm comfortable enough with my manhood to put it out there."

If you were to give Harvey Specter a D&D alignment, he would be a (mostly) Lawful Neutral character - someone with their own personal code interested in upholding the general order yet has enough brains and deviance in him to thrive and prosper. How fitting, for someone who is one of the best closers in New York. And nobody does this job better than he does.

He's a highly competent man who is good at his job, who plays hard as much and works even harder. When he talks, you listen. You hang on every word he says whether it's over dinner or in the court room. When Harvey walks into a room, people turn to look at him as he enters. He'll give them a couple of moments to collect their jaws off the floor before speaking. He's considerate that way.

Harvey is a man of impeccable taste who plays as hard as he works. He has a penchant for ball sports, enjoying both baseball and basketball as seen by his collection of autographed balls in his office. He likes fast, expensive cars and strong alcohol (whiskey or scotch. everything else is juvenile.). A stylish slicked back man who is used to the best of everything. He is highly attractive and knows it, as women practically throw themselves at him due to his good looks and biting wit. (It's also worth mentioning that the man has his own moral code and sticks with it, he refuses to sleep with married women on principle. He upholds the sanctity of marriage and only sleeps with people who are single and unattached.)

If you find Harvey Specter on your side, praise your lucky stars. Harvey's competitive streak coupled with his skills make him a very hard person to beat in court. He will have found out every loophole, even ones that the opposing side didn't know about yet. Every case that he takes will have been examined with microscopic precision and he is merciless in getting the best result possible for his client. He works very hard to ensure that he wins. Even if he has to use unconventional methods to do so.

So far we've established that Harvey knows the game (very well) and he's going to (damn well) play it. You would think that he would cheat to win. Well he does cheat in that he plays unconventionally but not so much that he would actually properly break the law to win. He merely bends them to his advantage and tests its flexibility. He will also play people to ensure that is the case. He's very good at reading people and knows where to press and where to flatter as necessary. Harvey's skill in being a lawyers stems from his acute awareness of how rules works and how to make it work for him. Not to mention the whole reading people deal. He's ruthless in wanting to win. Because if you win, everything's grand. If you lose, it isn't. And Harvey doesn't like it when he loses. He's been there before. He doesn't like it. He works hard and does everything in his power to ensure that it never happens again. Okay, so that means he's a tad controlling and overbearing at times to the point that he could be considered a life ruiner (Mike can testament to this). But the results speak for themselves. He always delivers.

His choice to hire Mike speaks volumes about him as a risk taker. When recruiting for a new associate, he told his secretary he didn't just want a boring Harvard clone. He wanted another version of himself, someone with not just a bit of spark but a thunderstorm inside of them. This says a lot first and foremost about his own narcissism, as shown as he refers to Mike as a reflection of himself often enough, which is why he has a no tolerance for failure policy with Mike that he sticks to pretty hard. Mike is a genius pothead hipster with an eidetic memory but no law degree. A risk taker who had balls considering that the way he chose to avoid the cops was to go storm the interview room with the best lawyer in the city. Harvey sees echos of himself in Mike. So nevermind the fact he was running from the cops with a suitcase full of pot, Harvey hired him after he showed an amazingly good knowledge of the law. Amongst other things.

But despite putting on the appearance of being Mister Perfect Lawyer, Harvey's life isn't exactly all cracked up as it's meant to be. He has a hard time forming relationships with people. He doesn't really care for romantic relationships, often pursuing one night stands rather than stick with one person. Emotions are too messy and too dangerous for him to handle since despite all his planning, emotions can often overturn a well executed plan. Which is why Harvey prefers that they're not there, it's too much effort for him to care about people and most people aren't even worth him caring about. He has needs, he tends to them. If there's work to be done, he works his arse off. He's pretty much closed himself off in that respect and doesn't really show that he cares about anybody at all.

Which is why it's always comes as a surprise when he shows he cares, in his own strange twisted way. The people he cares about the most are Jessica, Donna and Mike. Jessica is his mentor figure to whom he owns most of his success to. She pretty much stomped on his balls and he grew stronger from it. He would very much defend Jessica to the end and she would do the same for him. Donna is his partner in crime. He trusts her judgement and she just does everything for him. Donna is utterly indispensable to what he does and they have been through a lot together. (They have been "married" for seven years, Donna knows more about Harvey than anybody in the world and is proud of it.)

Harvey's relationship with Mike is something special though. To accurately describe their relation, would require the use of looking at it from Mike's point of view. From Mike's perspective, Harvey is the embodiment of infinite possibility. Harvey gave Mike the chance of a lifetime that he never thought he would get. He also represents a kind of ideal that Mike could reach - highly successful. So there is that aspect. The other aspect involves the fact that Mike could be seen to balance out Harvey's emotional inavailability. For as much as Harvey is a closed book who is highly in control of his emotions, Mike is an open book who wears his heart on his sleeve. Mike reminds him to be human rather than some lawyer demi-god, which is always a plus. Harvey uses this to his advantage sometimes; Mike's ability to empathise with people can be useful. On occasion. Mike challenges Harvey and vice versa, their advanced intellectual capabilities allow them to bounce off each other and ultimately work better. Harvey is protective of Mike, even if Harvey does give Mike a very hard time. It's the kind of tough love upon which successful partnerships thrive upon.

So to summarise:



[Abilities]
He's a very good lawyer. He makes panties drop when he walks into a room (okay not quite but you get the idea). He can sell ice to an Eskimo. He can make pens look sexy.

[Other important stuff]
Harvey thinks Kirk is the man, okay?

[Sample post]
[First Person]
- If you were to describe yourself in one sentence, what would that be?
I'd do me.

- You discover someone stalking you. Do you call the police or deal with it yourself?
I really need to move.

No really, I do.

- The hottest boy/girl in class/workplace just confessed their love to you. How do you respond?
As much as there is an appeal in secret office relationships, not for me, thanks. I enjoy my job too much. I enjoy all the perks that come with my job too much. That includes being able to pick up women with the line "I'm an attorney at law."

- Would you consider yourself a lover, a hater, a sinner, or a saint? Or maybe a mix of both?
I'm everything you need me to be. That's a statement, not a promise by the way.

- Will you make a contract with me? /人 ◕ ‿‿ ◕ 人\
I'll look it over and tell you in the morning what I think. (this is code for I will have my associate do it and I will probably reject your contract on that there are too many liabilities in turning into a "magical girl" and it's unprofitable on my end. So no.)

- What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
May I remind you that time with me is precious, which is why I charge a thousand dollars per hour per session. So if you're going to ask any questions, make sure they're a) relevant and b) something I can answer.

Also, you'll need to tell me whether it's an African or European swallow.

[Third Person]
Harvey wanted a coffee. It was a ritual for him to go get one at 3 in the afternoon, when he was just an associate it used to be the cheap stuff that he brewed surreptitiously in the break room and drank at the speed of light before anybody noticed he was gone from his desk for more than five minutes. But as he progressed up the ranks in the firm, this ritual turned from a simple caffeine injection to a necessary time in which he could recollect his thoughts and reconstruct them to be more productive state.

The coffee was the same but the difference between now and then was that he was making more than enough money to have someone make the coffee for him. Black, no sugar. And get me one of those scones.

The barista looked stunned. Like he didn't know what to do with the fact that someone had just completely ignored his attempts at chitchat. Most people lapped it up at this time as most people who came at this time were bored and idling around usually. A guy like this normally appeared in the morning rush. Harvey shot him a glance as if to say he should do his job rather than gawp at him and his suit.

This silence lingered for a little moment longer, then the barista skittered off to prepare the order. It's the same each time he goes to a coffee place, he just wants a coffee served - not tell you about his life or how his associate is giving him a headache or how he's convinced his assistant is veering into the dark arts. Mainly because it's none of the barista's business.

When the poor fellow arrived back, Harvey had already laid out the exact amount on the counter. And just as abrupt as he came, he was gone.

He drank his coffee as he walked, thinking about the latest case he had been handed. It was a simple case of copyright infringement that could be settled out of court but protracted only by the fact that Mike was considering making it amenable to both sides so that neither lost out. The kid still had a lot to learn about not wearing his heart on his sleeve. If he tried to pull any stunts like that again, he would deliberately insert errors in the next brief he threw at him. Just to make sure he understood what being a pain in the ass was.

Harvey was nearly back at his office when he took a bite from the scone. It was hard and pretty much tasteless, a sorry lump of dough that had been left too long on display. Why Donna was eating them like there was no tomorrow, he'd never know. So he did nothing more than dump the pastry in the nearest rubbish bin unceremoniously and made a mental note to himself to never try that again.


[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?] I was drawn in by two temptresses to do this.
[Which rule was your favorite and why?] Playing nice.
[Where did you hear about Somarium?] Already here.
[Any questions?] Nope nope nope.

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Harvey Specter, life ruiner extraordinaire

August 2012

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