Five Reasons Lian is the one who Rules the Harper Household
The first five things meme! For lady_sarai! I love these things, so if anyone else wants one, I'm still game! lady_sarai, I'm still working on your other four. Robin quitting the Titans is exploding. :-P
Five Reasons Lian is the one who Rules the Harper Household
1) As anyone who has ever stayed with Lian while Roy was leaving for the night knows, that girl has a set of serious lungs on her. Sometimes it’s just easier to watch “The Little Mermaid” for the four hundred and sixty seventh time than it is to argue why “The Incredibles” is an infinitely preferable movie.
2) She pouts. Of course, if it were only pouting, Roy would probably be able to withstand it, but then she crawls into his lap, puts her arms around his neck and asks in her saddest voice “But why, Daddy?” Sure enough, when she does this Roy can’t think of a single reason that she should go to bed at eight o’clock. So he lets her stay up and watch old Kung Fu movies with him until she falls asleep, and then he carries her to bed and tucks her in.
3) Surprisingly, for her youth, Lian is extremely perceptive. Roy still remembers the first time he brought a woman home to meet her (well, a woman who had not been part of her life since shortly after her birth). The woman, whose name Roy no longer remembers, though he is sure Lian does, had sworn that she loved children, and that she couldn’t wait to meet Lian. Lian did not take to her at all, which was surprising, because Lian liked everyone. Later, when Roy was tucking her in, he asked her why.
Lian told him quite seriously that Becca (that was her name) didn’t like children at all, and was only pretending to because she wanted to get into his pants. After cursing under his breath and vowing never to let Uncle Dick baby sit again, he finished tucking Lian and in and went out to find that she was absolutely right. The look on Becca’s face when he said her that no, Lian never did spend any weekends with her mother told him everything he needed to know.
He watched her for signs of telepathy for a very long time after that night, but as far as he was able tell, she was just a normal, very perceptive little girl. Well, as normal as the child of a masked hero could be, anyway. Still, after Becca, any woman Roy planned to keep around for a while had to get Lian’s seal of approval.
4) Roy knows that there are many very good reasons that Jade is in prison and that they will never be together. That doesn’t stop him from wishing that somehow, things could be different. Lian helps him when he feels like this. Roy is absolutely certain that she is the best thing that he and Jade ever did in their lives, and every time he looks at her, he is glad again that Jade gave her to him to raise.
5) Roy feels guilty sometimes about leaving Lian with a sitter or a nanny while he heads out to his nighttime adventures, and he knows that it probably translates into a bit more indulgent parental behavior than is strictly necessary. He knows it’s very likely that Lian will figure this out someday and possibly use it to manipulate him, but he can’t seem to help himself. And being shot didn’t help, because now he feels his mortality even more keenly, and has a better understanding of just how dangerous his evening work is. If he dies and isn’t there to watch her grow up, he wants her memories of him to be good ones. If that means he’s not as strict with her as maybe he should be… That’s all right.
Five Reasons Lian is the one who Rules the Harper Household
1) As anyone who has ever stayed with Lian while Roy was leaving for the night knows, that girl has a set of serious lungs on her. Sometimes it’s just easier to watch “The Little Mermaid” for the four hundred and sixty seventh time than it is to argue why “The Incredibles” is an infinitely preferable movie.
2) She pouts. Of course, if it were only pouting, Roy would probably be able to withstand it, but then she crawls into his lap, puts her arms around his neck and asks in her saddest voice “But why, Daddy?” Sure enough, when she does this Roy can’t think of a single reason that she should go to bed at eight o’clock. So he lets her stay up and watch old Kung Fu movies with him until she falls asleep, and then he carries her to bed and tucks her in.
3) Surprisingly, for her youth, Lian is extremely perceptive. Roy still remembers the first time he brought a woman home to meet her (well, a woman who had not been part of her life since shortly after her birth). The woman, whose name Roy no longer remembers, though he is sure Lian does, had sworn that she loved children, and that she couldn’t wait to meet Lian. Lian did not take to her at all, which was surprising, because Lian liked everyone. Later, when Roy was tucking her in, he asked her why.
Lian told him quite seriously that Becca (that was her name) didn’t like children at all, and was only pretending to because she wanted to get into his pants. After cursing under his breath and vowing never to let Uncle Dick baby sit again, he finished tucking Lian and in and went out to find that she was absolutely right. The look on Becca’s face when he said her that no, Lian never did spend any weekends with her mother told him everything he needed to know.
He watched her for signs of telepathy for a very long time after that night, but as far as he was able tell, she was just a normal, very perceptive little girl. Well, as normal as the child of a masked hero could be, anyway. Still, after Becca, any woman Roy planned to keep around for a while had to get Lian’s seal of approval.
4) Roy knows that there are many very good reasons that Jade is in prison and that they will never be together. That doesn’t stop him from wishing that somehow, things could be different. Lian helps him when he feels like this. Roy is absolutely certain that she is the best thing that he and Jade ever did in their lives, and every time he looks at her, he is glad again that Jade gave her to him to raise.
5) Roy feels guilty sometimes about leaving Lian with a sitter or a nanny while he heads out to his nighttime adventures, and he knows that it probably translates into a bit more indulgent parental behavior than is strictly necessary. He knows it’s very likely that Lian will figure this out someday and possibly use it to manipulate him, but he can’t seem to help himself. And being shot didn’t help, because now he feels his mortality even more keenly, and has a better understanding of just how dangerous his evening work is. If he dies and isn’t there to watch her grow up, he wants her memories of him to be good ones. If that means he’s not as strict with her as maybe he should be… That’s all right.