Roy Harper has both arms (redarrow_harper) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-03-19 01:48:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, dick grayson (nightwing), roy harper (red arrow) |
Who: Roy Harper, Dick Grayson and Lian Harper
What: Lian Wanders Off Then There's Ice Cream
Where: The Boardwalk in Huntington Beach
When: Backdated: Saturday in February; After Ring Plot
Rating: Family Friedly
Status: Complete
Now that there were no more volcanos and ash blocking the sun and causing poor air quality, Roy had decided that the best way to celebrate was to spend an afternoon on the boardwalk with Lian. He had thought about inviting Darcy along as well, but ultimately decided that this would be a father daughter outing and he’d take Darcy out another day soon. Sure, pretty much every day was a father daughter day with Roy and Lian and had been for the last years, but going out and staying in were totally different, because at home Lian could spend time in her room and Roy might not see her for a couple of hours, but on the boardwalk they would be together the whole time. At least that had been the plan until Roy turned around after stopping to look at something and didn’t see his daughter anywhere nearby.
Lian usually knew better than to wander off. Roy had taught her a long time ago not to leave his side when they were out, but every now and then something would catch Lian’s eye and she’d step away from her father and that’s what had happened this time. She hadn’t intended to go more than a few steps, but there were so many people around that she’d gotten turned around and lost track of which direction her and her father had come from. This was not good.
Dick was pretty sure that the beach and boardwalk were a couple of his favorite places in his new home. It was beautiful, it was fun, and the energy of the boardwalk never failed to make him smile - everyone here always seemed to be having such a good time. What wasn’t to like about that? If he had to get ditched by a friend, there were worst places for it to happen. Dick tucked his hands into his pockets and lifted his face into the sunshine, idly debating if he should go get a hot fudge sundae or not since he was already here. It was pointless, of course - duh, no kidding he was going to get a sundae - but it seemed appropriate to at least put up a pretense. Though… Hm. Should he get vanilla-vanilla or french vanilla ice cream? Now that was something to debate about.
Well, he’d figure it out on the way. Dick set off towards the ice cream shop at a leisurely pace, taking the time to people watch. People eating, playing games, joking around, shopping - seriously, this was almost as good as the circus in his dreams. A little lacking in animals, clowns, and big top performances, maybe, but the whirl of activity and smiling faces was all just perfect.
Until Dick spotted a distinctly unhappy face. It wasn’t sad, either, more like… Worried? Scared? Now that he looked, he didn’t see any adults nearby. That didn’t bode well. Slipping through the crowd to the little girl’s side, he called to her cheerfully, “Excuse me, miss? Do you think you could help me? I think I’m lost, and I was hoping you could point me in the right direction.”
He dropped down to her eye level, sitting on his heels and resting his arms on his knees.
“I know I’m supposed to ask a police officer this kind of stuff, but I haven’t seen one nearby,” he confided. “You aren’t a kidnapper, are you? I’m pretty sure I can outrun you if you are, but I’d prefer not to get even more lost in my escape attempt if I don’t have to.”
Lian had been weary when the man first approached her, but as he started talking, her brow furrowed and she couldn’t help but stare at him, wondering if this was some kind of trick. Lian might have been an nine year old girl, but she was smart for her age as a result of how Roy had raised her, “If you’re lost then you should probably ask an adult and not be super creepy.” Sure, this guy could have been a kidnapper or something, but that didn’t stop Lian from being defiant.
“Everyone else is so busy, though,” Dick admitted ruefully, shrugging a little. “And you were just standing here looking very serious, so I thought that maybe you were just a really small college kid who was taking philosophy this semester. Philosophy students tend to look like that a lot, I’ve noticed. All that contemplating existence and the meaning of happiness, I guess.”
He straightened up and grinned at her, pointing off down the boardwalk.
“I’ll just go this way and see if I can find someone else to help me, then. And I’ll be sure to revise the way I ask so I don’t come off as ‘super creepy’. Thanks for the tip, and sorry for bothering you.”
While Dick was talking to Lian, Roy just happened to be walking in their direction after having shown another woman a picture of Lian and being pointed in their direction. He was glancing from one side to the other, letting his gaze wander briefly towards any young girls with black hair who were about Lian’s height and eventually he spotted her, just as Dick was getting to his feet. Of course he didn’t recognize Dick right away, only seeing some strange guy near his daughter, “Hey! Get away from my daughter!”
Lian turned at the sound of her father’s voice and knew that she was gonna be in trouble for wandering off. Roy had never really grounded Lian or punished her too severely, but he also wasn’t too lenient when she did do something wrong, which was very seldom, “Lian, you know better than to wander off,” He said when he finally reached her, still not actually looking at Dick.
Dick raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and stepped obediently away. Well, that explained the girl’s worry - and solved the problem. He left the father-daughter pair to their reunion and headed back off into the crowd.
...He wasn’t really creepy, was he? Man. That was not cool.
“I’m sorry, daddy.” Lian said as Dick walked away, “I didn’t mean to make you worry. I got turned around and didn’t know which way you were.” When she was younger she might have pouted at him, but at ten, Roy didn’t fall for it as often anymore, “But I don’t think that guy was trying to kidnap me. He was a little weird, but I think he’s either lost too or was trying to help.”
Roy shook his head, sighing, “Just don’t walk away from me again, okay?” He glanced in the direction the guy had gone as Lian explained what had happened then took his daughter's hand and headed in the direction Dick had gone. If he had misread the situation then he wanted to apologize for jumping to conclusions, Spotting him a few feet away, Roy walked a little faster, Lian picking up her pace to keep from being pulled, “Hey! Buddy.”
Dick blinked, startled, and paused, half turning to see who was calling. He sighed softly to himself as he spotted the father coming up behind him. Apparently, he really did seem creepy - or at least creepy enough to warrant going after. When did that happen? He’d never had this problem before.
Raising his hands in a gesture of surrender, he promised, “I wasn’t trying anything, I swear. She just looked upset.”
It wasn’t until Dick turned and Roy got a good look at him that Roy recognized him. After all, how could he not recognize his best friend from his dreams? He’d been so focused on Lian before that he hadn’t gotten a good look at Dick otherwise he might have realized it was him sooner, “Dick!? Fuck, I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize you.” Seeing him in person was so different than seeing him in the dreams or his icon on Valarnet and Roy had to resist the urge to hug him.
Dick stared for a second. Frowned. ...Nope, he wasn’t quite placing the face for some reason, and no names were coming to mind.
“Uh. Sorry, but. Do I know you?” he questioned. “I’m usually a lot better at remembering people.”
Lian was now glancing between the two men, wondering if this had anything to do with Valarnet. Roy had, had to explain the strange things that happened in Orange County after he’d been swapped with a younger, alternate version of himself a few weeks back and ever since Lian had been waiting for something else to happen.
“Right. Sorry. It’s Roy. From Valarnet.” Despite Dick not recognizing him, Roy was still upbeat, the opposite of how he’d been only moments ago when he’d seen Lian with Dick. “Your dream best friend.”
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers!” Dick remembered, brightening. He grinned, broad and friendly. “My dream best friend, huh? I don’t think I’ve seen you in any of the dreams yet; my best friend in those is still Zitka. It’s good to meet you anyway.”
He held out a hand to Roy.
Smiling, Roy shook Dick’s hand. They’d talked a few times on Valarnet and Roy had been wanting to meet the other man in person, but hadn’t been sure how to bring it up without sounding a little crazy, “Zitka is your elephant, right?” In his dreams, Dick and Roy had talked about a lot of things, which was how Roy knew that, “We’ll meet eventually though.”
“Zitka is the elephant,” Dick confirmed, laughing. “Hey, I was actually asking your daughter for some directions - I need to know where to find a good ice cream place. If she doesn’t mind naming somewhere, you’re both more than welcome to join me for a sundae.”
Now that it appeared that her father knew the guy who’d approached her, Lian felt okay talking to him, because technically he wasn’t really a stranger. “Boardwalk Ice Cream. They have ice cream bars that are covered in chocolate then dipped in whatever you want.”
Roy smirked as he glanced down at Lian then back at Dick, “It’s pretty good. Unless you were looking for more traditional ice cream on cones.” They had only come down to the boardwalk once or twice since moving to Huntington Beach so aside from the places they’d actually gone to, Roy was still learning the businesses on the boardwalk.
“Hmm… I was thinking something more like a hot fudge sundae,” Dick admitted, “but there’s nothing wrong with trying something new. Alright, let’s go to Boardwalk Ice Cream. As long as they have sprinkles, I’ll be happy - and what kind of ice cream place doesn’t have sprinkles?”
He motioned for the two to join him walking with a smile, waiting for them to draw even before he started moving again.
“Of course they have sprinkles,” Lian said as they started walking towards the ice cream shop.
“Yeah, what ice cream place wouldn’t have sprinkles?” Roy teased, smirking. He was quite happy at the moment, literally run into the best friend of his dreams. Sure, things hadn’t gotten off to the best start, but Dick didn’t seem offended, so everything seemed to be going good, “So, how’re you liking Orange County?”
“I just said that!” Dick laughed and sent a grin in Roy’s direction. “I’m liking it pretty well, honestly. It’s nice here - terrific weather, great people, very laid back. No craziness, like in Vegas. Still weird to think I’m staying, though, and not going to be packing up to go on tour, but not bad-weird, you know? Oh, uh… I was an aerialist.”
He didn’t know if Roy already knew that. He didn’t recall mentioning it directly to Roy, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have seen the information.
“I was reiterating,” Roy said, still smirking as they continued walking, “Really? Just like in the dreams, huh?” It was interesting how Dick’s background in real life was similar to in the dreams while Roy’s was drastically different from his. Roy definitely hadn’t been raised by Native Americans or Rich playboys in real life. “How long have you been doing that?”
“My whole life, pretty much,” Dick answered, grinning. “I was a paid professional by twelve, so I had to be doing something right. It’s actually pretty different from the dreams, though - Cirque du Soleil and Haly’s Circus are very different operations that are on very different levels. I’m still just a little kid in my dreams, but I can already tell you that Haly’s won’t be touring arenas across Europe and Asia with six different shows, let alone drawing the masses in Las Vegas on a nightly basis. My parents and I definitely weren’t headliners in the Cirque, either. There are hundreds of other aerialists working with us, and they’re all just as good. Also, no elephants. Which is a downright shame, if you ask me. Elephants are awesome. Haley’s totally has the Cirque beat on that front.”
“Okay, yeah, Cirque and the circus definitely are two different things,” Roy had seen Dick use his acrobatic skills in the dreams and wondered what it was like to watch him in Cirque du Soleil. “That’s pretty cool though. So your parents are still in the Cirque? Why’d you decide to leave?” They reached the ice cream place and Roy pulled the door open for Dick and Lian to go in a head of him.
“Thanks,” Dick murmured as he stepped inside after Lian, then answered, “I spent literally my entire life in Cirque. Even before I started performing in it myself, I was touring with my parents, training with everyone, attending classes made of up of kids who had parents working for Cirque just like me - not all of us really stayed put long enough to go to a normal school, you know? I left to find out what life outside the Cirque is like. I’m in my twenties now; I figure it’s as good a time as any for this kind of adventure.”
He grinned.
“So, what about you? How’d you end up in Huntington Beach?”
It was interesting, hearing about Dick’s real life background after knowing what his dream background was before he even had. “That’s pretty cool. You’re gonna have to show us what you can do sometime.” He was sure that Lian would enjoy watching Dick, considering she enjoyed watching gymnastics. “We moved out here cause I took a transfer to work with the Huntington Beach PD. I’m a detective.” Roy could have bragged about how he was one of the youngest detectives in the department, but he didn’t want to seem too full of himself.
"Wow, I feel safer already," Dick replied cheerfully. "Though I may call you if I ever lose my house keys. Where were you working before you came here?"
Roy laughed, “What, so that I can break into your house and no one will call the police?” Stepping up to the counter, Lian told the employee what she wanted her ice cream dipped into while Roy and Dick continued talking, “Pasadena Police Department. Got transferred out here a couple months ago.” When it was Roy’s turn, he told the employee what he wanted then turned to Dick, “It’s on me. Least I can do for thinking you were trying to abduct my daughter.”
“That’s really not necessary,” Dick assured Roy, grinning. “You were just being a good dad; you don’t have anything to make up for.”
He gave the man behind the counter his own order - sprinkles included, because he was an adult - and reached for his wallet. “Do you guys like here better than Pasadena?”
Roy would have insisted, but technically they had only just met and Roy didn’t want to do anything to offend Dick. Well, anything else. Accusing someone of trying to kidnap one’s daughter was probably pretty offensive. “Alright. If you insist.” Roy paid for his and Lian’s ice creams as well and once they had their ice creams, he gestured towards a nearby table, “I like it better. I mean, my parents are still in Pasadena, so we don’t see them as often, but it’s not like we moved to a different state of anything. We’re still pretty close.”
“That’s great! My folks are on the road with a tour right now, so I think I’m actually jealous,” Dick replied as he took a seat at the table. He took a bite of his ice cream and moaned happily. “Oh, man - this really good. Nice call on the ice cream shop, Lian.”
Lian smiled as she took a bite of her own ice cream, “I told you it was good.”
Roy laughed as he sat down and leaned back in his chair, “If you haven’t figured it out by now, she likes to be right.” Lian made a face at him, but continued eating her ice cream. As he sat there, Roy smiled, happy to be hanging out with his daughter and his dream best friend who, he hoped, would become his real life best friend.