Time for a big Ivy thought dump bc the brain rot’s real today. So to start I don’t think Ivy is “naturally” able to charm anyone. She’s not particularly charming or manipulative. She’s always been considered weird & little off-beat. Her physical beauty ? Exceptional. Her social skills & grace ? Near-non existent. As a normal human, despite her also being incredibly intelligent ( Eventually becoming a botanist & toxicologist ) it was really her physical beauty that has ever caused anyone to take interest in her. & she would be oblivious to it if she wasn’t forced to take notice of it because people suck & are creeps. Still previous to her “transformation” this was really back-of-the-mind, don’t think about it unless something explicitly made her recognise it.
But as a mutant Ivy’s dangerous. She’s predatory & she's misanthropic (leaning a little further toward misandry, entirely trauma based). She’s highly “antisocial” per say, & she’s learned to harness her abilities to do it. But again she doesn’t really have a lot of natural charm & becoming a semi-undead mutant didn’t increase this aspect of her socially, she just secretes a potent pheromone that makes people far more susceptible to her suggestions which she’s had to become aware of it because she can’t seem to turn it off naturally (much to her dismay).
It’s not only men that this effects, btw, but occasionally it seems more potent with (*straight or bi) men, but its because they’re more likely to feel attracted to her physically, which seems to make the pheromone work better on them. It inspires devotion to her & when there's a form of physical attraction present people tend to get their wires crossed & it can quickly turn into romantic obsession. It however works on everyone, regardless to sexuality / gender. For straight fems & gay mascs its just like, more of feeling very, very compelled to do as Ivy wants & to be friendly / close to her. Devotion, but without the common romantic / sexual infatuation that tends to effect straight & bi mascs & bi & lesbian fems. She’s a siren very much in the traditional / mythological sense of the term, she uses this power to lead people astray & get what she wants.
This, while def having its advantages, has compounded with her trauma in making her extremely distrustful toward others. Since she can’t naturally turn it off ( though I imagine it can be artificially weakened, as can her other powers, just for the sake of being able to contain her in Arkham ) she can’t often be sure if people are being nice / friendly to her out of authenticity or because of the pheromone she secretes. I also follow the idea that she’s also highly poisonous / venomous but this seems to be something she does have some form of control over. I like to keep some comic canon in the sense that this is something she is able to develop an antidote for, so that not everyone who is kissed / bitten by her has to die or become dangerously ill. That being said she’s usually the only one who possesses the antidote & its in limited supply without her.
I also don’t portray Ivy as like. . . Caring about plants to an all consuming extent. She’s a lowkey echo warrior but not to a nonsensical extreme. The fact is Ivy has always loved plants, gardening & nature, but she’s not entirely illogical about it. The thing is however she is extremely chlorokinetic & she uses those powers to their fullest. She can & will influence all organic / plant life around her. She is able to alter / mutate plants / vegetation & typically any plant that has come in contact with her power / influence will be genetically different to whatever it started life as. A lot of the plants Ivy influences become aggressive & are entirely susceptible to her will but will function in a monstrous / predatory manner entirely on their own. Others simply become jumbo size & are extremely strong. They occasionally start doing really weird shit that isn’t really “normal” for plants, or otherwise they do things that plants might normally do but on a much smaller scale thus meaning it doesn’t normally effect or cause any issues for the majority, so suddenly when Ivy amplifies them it becomes a problem.
Think the killer plants scene from Jumanji amplified by 100. You can imagine how truly dangerous this makes Ivy if she's able to have any unrestrained contact with plants / vegetation. She can essentially make biological weapons out of any plant life within an instant. Its more Ivy’s misanthropy that drives her than her concern for plant life however. As a result yes, she is a echo / bio terrorist, yes she does lash out under the pretence of preserving / aiding the environment & she does genuinely believe in this to an extent but the more excessive aspects of it is her hatred of people & a misguided sense that she's ultimately helping someone / something in the process.
She uses her powers to promote green-life & given the way Ivy’s plants are, ie are naturally predators they are actively hostile to humans / animals / insects which is ultimately not great for the environment, since they have the capacity to COMPLETELY alter life on earth as we know it. & after experience Ivy does come to realise this. She's not out for plants to take over the world, because she doesn’t care about world domination, but she will weaponize them for her own means. Whether for self defence or as a means of exerting her will / force.
As I mentioned the result of all this makes Ivy one of the most powerful meta-humans known. She's also an object of scientific intrigue as are the plants she influences. A few have probably been taken & kept as lab specimens, but there is only ONE Ivy therefore she's not really able to be studied effectively. Theres been attempts, but they don’t go anywhere largely because Ivy is still recognised as a human with rights, & she is particularly protected as such within Gotham city (probably a lot thanks to the influence of Batsy / Bruce, but I also think its fair to say the population of Gotham has grown to take a weird pride in their “home-grown freaks” & can be protective / supportive of them in cases like this )
But its not uncommon for others to try & violate these rights in the name of the greater good. As a RESULT & through experience with these things, when Ivy isn’t in Arkham she’s usually left alone & she understands the danger she's in by acting out which means she's very reclusive & doesn’t tend to associate with human populations if she can help it. She never goes far from Gotham because that is the place she is “protected” but usually if she's not in Arkham she’s probably hauled up somewhere in Gotham’s surrounding wilderness in a personal grove of protective / man eating plants. Typically, as long as Ivy isn’t doing anything to threaten anyone in Gotham she's left alone & the general consensus is if you stumble upon Ivy’s grove you need to leave asap & stay away from her. Shes kinda like a local & very real cryptid in that regard.
[ From here ]
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