Disclaimer: Characters owned by DC Comics.
Somebody wanted me to do a story about Jericho and Lian Harper but they wanted to write Joseph as a member of the Titans during the Devin Grayon era.
Now, this is my first time actually writing anything with Jericho, and the most prominent positive example of him in a story I had to rely on was the "Games" graphic novel.
That being said, I wanted to do something I assumed is different. I didn't want to do something obvious like have Lian learning sign language. I decided to focus on Joseph's artistic abilities.
Joseph Wilson was working on a brand new painting, one of three that was going on display for a charity auction to benefit a local hospital. The first two paintings had been landscapes of Central Park, one in the early morning and another in the early evening. This third piece was meant to be an attempt at abstract art in order to keep things a bit interesting and add some variety to the auction.
While one painting would have been enough, Joseph felt especially motivated to do as much as he could to lend a hand, as the hospital in question had been damaged recently in a supervillain attack. The Hangmen, to be precise. This was an attack that the Titans could have handled in a more orderly fashion, if not for the fact that half of the team was in Europe dealing with a resurgence of H.I.V.E. activity when the Hangmen struck.
Joseph took a step back. He wasn't really happy with how this was turning out. It just, it didn't feel right to him. He was starting to think that maybe it would be best if he started over, when he heard someone yelling.
"No! No! It's no good!"
Joseph turned away from his unfinished piece, set down the pencil in his hand, and left the room to find out what the problem was. He'd recognized the voice. It was Lian, the daughter of his teammate Roy Harper, and it sounded as if she was feeling very angry about something. Joseph didn't see Roy rushing down the hall to find out what was troubling his little girl, and then he remembered that Roy was in the city having to deal with something involving Kyle Rayner and Donna Troy, Roy's on-off-currently on girlfriend. As well as another of Joseph's teammates.
Joseph noticed that Lian had left her door open, and when he looked inside her room, he saw her huddled beside her bed, crying. Littered in the space around her and on her bed were torn up pieces of paper, crayons, pencils, and pencil shavings. A miniature pencil sharpener was on the bed. Not wanting to intrude into her room or her surprise her, Joseph softly, but firmly, knocked on her door four times so she would be able to hear him. Still crying, Lian slightly lifted her head up and saw Joseph standing outside her room.
"Oh, h-hi Uncle Joey. I, I just-" Lian didn't finish her sentence as she had begun coughing before she started to cry again. Joseph noticed some blank paper and a sketchpad on her bed. Taking a pencil off the floor and a piece of paper from the bed, he began writing as a means to communicate with her. He knelt down to Lian's level to show her what he'd written.
It's okay. You can finish crying.
"Th-thanks." Lian sniffled, and cried for several more minutes before she began to calm down. Joseph took out a handkerchief and handed it Lian.
"Thank you." She said again as she began to wipe her puffy eyes. Joseph wrote another message.
You got that all out?
"Yeah." Lian nodded.
Would you like to talk about it?
"Um, is it okay if I can have some water first? My throat kind of hurts from all that crying." Lian said as she rubbed her throat.
Sure.
Joseph extended a hand to help Lian up, and the two made their way towards the kitchen. Lian then tugged on Joseph's pant leg to get his attention.
"Or, um, maybe some cookies and milk?" Lian innocently asked. Joseph smiled.
I know where Uncle Wally hides the double-stuff oreos.
"Heh." Lian laughed.
…
Joseph set down a plate of oreo cookies and a tall cup of milk in front of Lian.
"Thank you." Lian said,
Does your throat feel better?
"A lot, thanks."
Would you like to talk about what was bothering you before?
"Um, are you sure you wanna listen?" Lian looked uncertain. "You have to finish those paintings right? I don't wanna bother you."
They can wait, it's no trouble.
"Okay. Well, um, you see…" Lian still looked uncertain as she was trying to discern the best way to properly explain her little emotional outburst.
Take your time.
Lian eat another oreo, drank some more milk, and then took a deep breath.
"I was crying because, um, I know that Aunt Donna's birthday is in a couple of weeks, and since I don't have any money to get her anything, I thought maybe I could make her something."
That's nice of you.
"I thought of drawing her something, like a picture of her and daddy together. But every time I try to draw something it looks bad! It doesn't look anything like the way I see it when I close my eyes. And I've already tried five times yesterday and it all looked bad, and today I tried six times, and I just, why can't I make something good?"
Joseph sympathetically rested his hand over Lian's, as it was clear she may have begun crying again. Lian wiped her eyes and took another deep breath.
You don't have to draw something if it's making you feel badly.
"But that's the only thing I can think to do! I don't know how to do anything else." Lian exclaimed, although that last part was just barely louder than a whisper. She sounded so ashamed of herself, and for several minutes, she didn't say anything else.
"Pretty stupid to be getting worked up over a dumb drawing, huh?" Lian laughed.
Lian, it is perfectly okay for you to feel the way you do.
"Huh?"
I mean it's okay to feel frustrated. There's nothing dumb about it. And you shouldn't feel badly just for feeling like this.
"I-I was kinda expecting you to tell me not to feel this way." Lian explained.
I get frustrated too whenever I'm painting.
"But you're a great artist." Lian said in surprise and awe, not out of jealousy. "All your stuff is beautiful."
After I've spent days sketching and re-sketching the same piece over and over again because I wasn't happy with how it looked.
"Those ones you're working on now didn't seem so difficult." Lian mentioned. Joseph shrugged.
Sometimes it's a little easier. Sometimes it's very difficult. There are lots of pieces I gave up on because I thought they were too hard.
"I didn't know. I'm sorry." Lian apologized again.
Nothing to be sorry about, honey.
"Do you think I should stop trying to draw something?" Lian honestly asked.
Why do you want to draw?
"I wanted to do something nice for Aunt Donna for her birthday, I told you." Lian repeated, feeling a little annoyed and thinking Joseph hadn't been listening to everything she just told him.
I know. But, is she the only person you want to do this for?
"Yeah! I mean, at first she was. I mean, now, I… it's not that drawing is what I wanna do for my whole life. I don't think I'll ever be a master artist or anything like that. But I just really, really want to finish this. I said I was gonna draw something for Aunt Donna, and I that's what I wanna do."
So you want to do this for yourself as well?
"Is that bad?" Lian asked, wondering if this really was selfish of her. If it was wrong to not have this bee 100% about Donna.
Not at all. The most important thing about life is doing things because YOU want to do them for yourself as much as you want to do it for someone else.
"Oh. I never thought of it that way." Lian mused. "But, it's still kind of hard. Everything I've drawn so far is ugly."
You don't have to make something right away, or finish it right away. There's still two weeks before her birthday, right?
"Yeah, I guess I kinda forgot that while I was drawing." Lian sheepishly admitted.
I can help if you like. I can't guarantee it'll be perfect though, but as long as you're happy with it that's all that matters.
"Oh thank you!" Lian's eyes lit up. "But, what about your last painting for that thing?"
That can wait.
"Oh no no no, that has to come first." Lian was adamant. "It's okay. Like you said, her birthday's not for another two weeks. You should finish that first before you help me."
Joseph thought for a moment before writing something else.
How about we split the difference. I'll spend an hour helping you with your drawing, then I'll go back to working on my painting. I can help you more tomorrow, and the next day, until we can come up with something you're happy with. Okay?
"O-okay! That sounds great."
Just remember that you don't have to rush, alright?
"Alright."
Do you want to go back to working on it now?
"Um, actually…"
Yes?
"Do you want to have some more oreos first?"
Sure.