What I Like About You [A Lian and Mar'i Fic]
Title: What I Like About You
Authors:
undeniable_fate and
daybreak25
Rating: PG (will esclate in later chapters)
Characters: Mar'i Grayson (Nightstar), Lian Harper (Red Hood)
Summary: Your smile. Your laugh. Your determination. Your fury. Just a few things that I like about you. [A Mar'i and Lian fic][AU, almost]
Disclaimer: Not ours, not ours, we twist them for our use.
Notes: This is a co-write between a good friend and excellent forum buddy (HI SUSHI) and myself. And if it wasn't for Sushi, this would've been a little idea in the back of my head. :) This chapter/drabble is from Sushi's mind, my entry comes up next. So - all appreciations go to her.
This fic…began as a conversation between a few members of TGN Forums discussing how, well, if you didn’t love little Lian Harper, you had no heart. No soul. No…function in life. Daybreak25 go the initial idea of brilliance: A fic focusing on Lian and Mar’i; what their lives were like, how they worked, what they enjoyed, what they hated…etc. I, of course, heard this idea and begged to collaborate…because what could be more fun than writing a fic about Lian Harper and Mar’i Grayson growing up together as best friends? Daybreak kindly agreed to my pleading…and here we are. We’ll be alternating chapters…and you’ll be in for some AU type surprises…as most of this isn’t quite by the Kingdom Come book. First chapter’s by me…so here we go.
----
For the very first time in a very long time, Rose Wilson realized that she was in over her head.
“Guys?” She called down the long hall, one of many in Titans Tower, peering into the open room beside her. “Crap…guys? Where are you?” The hall was silent in response. This wasn’t right. Usually this only took her a few minutes; half an hour at best, but it had been forty five minutes and Rose hadn’t heard a peep. No heavy, nervous breathing, no jittery movement. Even with her heightened awareness, there was nothing. This had only happened once before, and she didn’t like the idea of it happening again…
“What the-” Rose yelped as something whistled past her hip and struck the wall, releasing a billowing smokescreen. She reached out and snatched a tiny arrow off the wall and groaned as she examined it. The teen didn’t bother turning around; she could already feel the familiar looming presence. Only a few moments more and…
Wump.
Two tiny, giggling bodies landed on her back, knocking her forward and face first onto the floor.
“Okay, okay! You guys win,” Rose choked out as the two seven year olds on her back rolled off onto the floor beside her, still laughing delightedly. The smokescreen slowly melted away.
“Lian almost stuck ya in the butt with one of her daddy’s smoky arrows,” a violet eyed girl announced proudly, as soon as she had calmed enough to speak without bursting into a fit of laughter, “then I flew us to ya and we dropped!”
“Yes, yes you did. Weren’t we playing tag or hide and seek, not stalk-and-kill?” Rose sat up and rubbed her back with the hand that wasn’t holding the minute smokescreen arrow. Her gaze shifted to the girl who had yet to speak. She was twirling a lock of reddish brown hair around her fingers, trying to stop grinning at her babysitter’s stern look but failing miserably. “Did Daddy say you could play with these?”
“He said I could practice with ‘em…” the arrow slinger dodged clumsily, a shaft of light gracing her dark hair, making the slightest hints of red considerably more pronounced.
“Outside the training room?” Rose gestured to the arrow with a nod, and both girls’ faces got a little less giddy.
“Uh…no,” the girl bit her lip, as though pondering what to say next, before suddenly proclaiming, “but it was Mar’i’s idea!”
“No it wasn’t!” The other girl protested loudly, jumping to her feet. “You were the one who said it’d be funny to sneak attack Rose when she thought we were hiding again, even if she got mad at us like last time!”
“Yeah, but you planned everything out!” Dark hair flew as the first girl pulled herself up in a flurry to match her opponent’s height.
“Hey, easy you two,” Rose said, hoping they could hear her over their own little argument. “You’re both too much like your fathers…”
And it was undeniably true. Lian Harper was the daughter of Arsenal, Roy Harper, the Titan with big ideas but not a shred of plans to back them up. Nightwing, or Dick to those who knew his true identity, had fathered Mar’i Grayson, a daughter that, not unlike him, set things up with a frightening amount of precision. There was no doubt in Rose’s mind that both Lian and Mar’i were as brilliant as their fathers. Factor in Cheshire and Starfire blood, and the prospects were slightly alarming.
“Are you mad at us Rose?” Both girls were suddenly giving their babysitter the insufferably irresistible puppy face, although it was Lian who spoke.
“Oh, of course not," Rose sighed as she gathered her charges into a tight hug. They squeezed back, not being able to restrain more little giggles.
“Hey, guess what? I’m gettin’ better with my starbolts! Wanna see?” Mar’i stepped back, her hands balled and flickering with a hazy and seemingly untamed purple glow. A tiny bolt escaped the ebony haired girl’s fist, and she squeaked as it hit and left a small burn mark on the wall. “Oops…” Her hands lost their glow.
“That was…better than last time,” Rose decided with a small smile, hoping her words were somewhat encouraging.
“Last time she nearly burned off Aunty Kory’s eyebrows,” Lian reminded them smarmily, referring to Mar’i’s most recent training session with her mother.
“Oh yeah? Well last time you nearly froze Auntie Donna and Uncle Garth!”
“They’d just walked in the room! How was I supposed to know they’d be there?”
“You shot the arrow after they walked in!”
“Okay!” Rose called, finally hoisting herself to her feet in a desperate attempt to salvage her sanity. “Ice cream time.”
“Ice cream!” The argument was immediately forgotten at the prospect of a treat. Mar’i and Lian linked arms clumsily and marched toward the kitchen with nearly identical smiles. There was only one way Rose could think to describe the pair as she watched them walk down the hall.
Appropriately, albeit occasionally argumentatively, inseparable.
----
Authors:
undeniable_fate and
daybreak25
Rating: PG (will esclate in later chapters)
Characters: Mar'i Grayson (Nightstar), Lian Harper (Red Hood)
Summary: Your smile. Your laugh. Your determination. Your fury. Just a few things that I like about you. [A Mar'i and Lian fic][AU, almost]
Disclaimer: Not ours, not ours, we twist them for our use.
Notes: This is a co-write between a good friend and excellent forum buddy (HI SUSHI) and myself. And if it wasn't for Sushi, this would've been a little idea in the back of my head. :) This chapter/drabble is from Sushi's mind, my entry comes up next. So - all appreciations go to her.
This fic…began as a conversation between a few members of TGN Forums discussing how, well, if you didn’t love little Lian Harper, you had no heart. No soul. No…function in life. Daybreak25 go the initial idea of brilliance: A fic focusing on Lian and Mar’i; what their lives were like, how they worked, what they enjoyed, what they hated…etc. I, of course, heard this idea and begged to collaborate…because what could be more fun than writing a fic about Lian Harper and Mar’i Grayson growing up together as best friends? Daybreak kindly agreed to my pleading…and here we are. We’ll be alternating chapters…and you’ll be in for some AU type surprises…as most of this isn’t quite by the Kingdom Come book. First chapter’s by me…so here we go.
----
For the very first time in a very long time, Rose Wilson realized that she was in over her head.
“Guys?” She called down the long hall, one of many in Titans Tower, peering into the open room beside her. “Crap…guys? Where are you?” The hall was silent in response. This wasn’t right. Usually this only took her a few minutes; half an hour at best, but it had been forty five minutes and Rose hadn’t heard a peep. No heavy, nervous breathing, no jittery movement. Even with her heightened awareness, there was nothing. This had only happened once before, and she didn’t like the idea of it happening again…
“What the-” Rose yelped as something whistled past her hip and struck the wall, releasing a billowing smokescreen. She reached out and snatched a tiny arrow off the wall and groaned as she examined it. The teen didn’t bother turning around; she could already feel the familiar looming presence. Only a few moments more and…
Wump.
Two tiny, giggling bodies landed on her back, knocking her forward and face first onto the floor.
“Okay, okay! You guys win,” Rose choked out as the two seven year olds on her back rolled off onto the floor beside her, still laughing delightedly. The smokescreen slowly melted away.
“Lian almost stuck ya in the butt with one of her daddy’s smoky arrows,” a violet eyed girl announced proudly, as soon as she had calmed enough to speak without bursting into a fit of laughter, “then I flew us to ya and we dropped!”
“Yes, yes you did. Weren’t we playing tag or hide and seek, not stalk-and-kill?” Rose sat up and rubbed her back with the hand that wasn’t holding the minute smokescreen arrow. Her gaze shifted to the girl who had yet to speak. She was twirling a lock of reddish brown hair around her fingers, trying to stop grinning at her babysitter’s stern look but failing miserably. “Did Daddy say you could play with these?”
“He said I could practice with ‘em…” the arrow slinger dodged clumsily, a shaft of light gracing her dark hair, making the slightest hints of red considerably more pronounced.
“Outside the training room?” Rose gestured to the arrow with a nod, and both girls’ faces got a little less giddy.
“Uh…no,” the girl bit her lip, as though pondering what to say next, before suddenly proclaiming, “but it was Mar’i’s idea!”
“No it wasn’t!” The other girl protested loudly, jumping to her feet. “You were the one who said it’d be funny to sneak attack Rose when she thought we were hiding again, even if she got mad at us like last time!”
“Yeah, but you planned everything out!” Dark hair flew as the first girl pulled herself up in a flurry to match her opponent’s height.
“Hey, easy you two,” Rose said, hoping they could hear her over their own little argument. “You’re both too much like your fathers…”
And it was undeniably true. Lian Harper was the daughter of Arsenal, Roy Harper, the Titan with big ideas but not a shred of plans to back them up. Nightwing, or Dick to those who knew his true identity, had fathered Mar’i Grayson, a daughter that, not unlike him, set things up with a frightening amount of precision. There was no doubt in Rose’s mind that both Lian and Mar’i were as brilliant as their fathers. Factor in Cheshire and Starfire blood, and the prospects were slightly alarming.
“Are you mad at us Rose?” Both girls were suddenly giving their babysitter the insufferably irresistible puppy face, although it was Lian who spoke.
“Oh, of course not," Rose sighed as she gathered her charges into a tight hug. They squeezed back, not being able to restrain more little giggles.
“Hey, guess what? I’m gettin’ better with my starbolts! Wanna see?” Mar’i stepped back, her hands balled and flickering with a hazy and seemingly untamed purple glow. A tiny bolt escaped the ebony haired girl’s fist, and she squeaked as it hit and left a small burn mark on the wall. “Oops…” Her hands lost their glow.
“That was…better than last time,” Rose decided with a small smile, hoping her words were somewhat encouraging.
“Last time she nearly burned off Aunty Kory’s eyebrows,” Lian reminded them smarmily, referring to Mar’i’s most recent training session with her mother.
“Oh yeah? Well last time you nearly froze Auntie Donna and Uncle Garth!”
“They’d just walked in the room! How was I supposed to know they’d be there?”
“You shot the arrow after they walked in!”
“Okay!” Rose called, finally hoisting herself to her feet in a desperate attempt to salvage her sanity. “Ice cream time.”
“Ice cream!” The argument was immediately forgotten at the prospect of a treat. Mar’i and Lian linked arms clumsily and marched toward the kitchen with nearly identical smiles. There was only one way Rose could think to describe the pair as she watched them walk down the hall.
Appropriately, albeit occasionally argumentatively, inseparable.
----