Disclaimer: Characters owned by DC.
Roy's appearance in this is based on Phil Hester's depiction of him during his artistic run on Green Arrow before Roy dropped the "Navajo" look.
If you are disgusted by the treatment of Roy and Lian Harper in recent comics, please join the Bring Back Lian Harper movement on both facebook and DeviantArt.
The Color of Lian Harper
"219... 220... 221... 222... 22... 3... Ugh."
Roy Harper let out a last breath of air and set the weight down. He got up and sighed. He'd just finish his daily exercise routine in order to stay fighting trim, as superheroes usually do.
After showering off Roy got into a pair of red sweatpants and a brown tank top. He stopped to look at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He had a fair complexion and long red hair (not mullet long, mind you) and a soul patch on his chin. For an archer he had a big, strong build, and washboard abs.
"Looking good, Harper." He joked to his reflection. He then went to look for his daughter.
"Lian, I'm gonna go order dinner. Do you want pizza or burgers or-"
Roy was cut off by the sight of his petite little girl, Lian, a girl of about five years old who took after her mother, with asian features and almond brown eyes. And hair which was normally onyx black was now covered in all manner of red goo.
"Hi daddy!" Lian said as what might have been ketchup dripped off her head onto the floor.
"…"
Roy couldn't exactly find the words to express how he felt at that moment. Actually, he could but not in language suitable for a child.
…
"But daddy-ow that hurts!" Lian cried.
Roy had taken her into the bathroom and was now trying to wash out everything that Lian had put in her hair. So much for dinner. Lian stood in the bathtub, concealed by soapy water and bubbles as Roy held up the shower head to spray some of the stuff out of her hair.
"I'm sorry, angel, but-did you use tomato sauce too?-why are trying to color your hair?" Roy asked.
"I used anything red I could find. Tomato sauce, ketchup, red paint…" Lian listed off the top of her head. Roy laughed.
"Yeah, well, putting ketchup in your hair ain't gonna make you a redhead, Lian. Sorry."
"Oh." Lian said, dejected.
"Hold on, I've almost got it all out." Roy informed her.
"Daddy, didn't I used to have red hair?" Lian asked as Roy wrung out a washcloth.
"Well, yeah, when you were a baby. But it started turning darker and eventually it became black like your mom's. Don't ask me how, I'm still confused myself." Roy finished explaining.
"Like mommy's…" Lian trailed off. Roy now picked up her sad mood.
"Lian, what's wrong? You never used to care about what color your hair was before."
"Well, I realized I don't really look like you, daddy. So, um, I wanted to change my hair to match your's." Lian finished explaining. That made Roy laugh again, but not in a mean way.
"I'm flattered, Lian, but I think your hair is pretty just the way it is." Roy smiled as he told her.
"No it's not." She didn't feel the same way.
"What?" Roy's smile dropped as he saw that Lian might start crying.
"After school today, while I was waiting for you, I was with this girl in my class named Amy. I told her, about, how my daddy was big time superhero Arsenal."
"Stop, you're gonna make me blush." He joked, but still did not smile.
"But, Amy's cousin came over to pick her up. She told him I was Arsenal's daughter. But he said that's impossible, because, because you're white and you've got red hair, and he said that I'm probably Chinese or Japanese, or something."
Roy could not believe his ears.
"Wait. This kid actually said that to you?" Roy asked, dumbfounded.
"He's not a kid, he's in college, Amy said." Lian finished saying.
"Really. What's his name?"
…
The next day Lian was waiting outside the school with Amy, another little girl with blonde hair and green eyes that one dumb boy named Jack said were the color of a frog. Lian's hair was back to being onyx black.
"You sure you wanna wait for my cousin?" Amy asked, remembering what it was like the other day.
"Uh-huh." Lian said, waiting for her dad as well. When, speak of the devil…
"Let's go Amy. You're mom's waiting." In came Chester, a twenty-two year old college student with straggly black hair and a bad complexion to much his sour demeanor. "Don't know why she makes me pick you up." He muttered.
"Chester you were really mean to Lian yesterday. Apologize." Amy commanded to her older cousin. Chester just looked down at Lian, who looked neither sad, nor happy, nor angry to see him.
"Well, sorry kid, but there's no way in hell you're dad is-"
"A-hem." Someone tapped Johnny on the shoulder. He turned around and… there stood Roy, fully decked in his Arsenal gear, right down to the sunglasses.
"Daddy!"
"Wow." Amy whispered.
"Aah!" Chester yelped.
"So, you're Chester, right? The one who made my daughter feel bad because she doesn't look like me?" Roy asked with a coldness that makes space look like Tahiti.
"She, she really is-" Chester stammered.
"You're the guy who called my little angel 'Chinese or Japanese or something'?" Roy asked again.
"Well I-"
"Or, you think just because she takes more after her mom there's no way she could be related to me, right?"
"I, uh-, I didn't-"
"You think you can call my little girl a liar? Make her feel bad about having black hair?"
"No! I-"
"Or you think just because she looks Asian that automatically means she's from China or Japan?"
"What's your daddy doing?" Amy asked Lian.
"Being cool." Lian replied as Roy had backed Chester against a wall.
"I got news for you, bud, I don't look it but I'm part Native American. I got raised by the Tachini Navajo tribe in Arizona, and I'm proud of it. My daughter is Vietnamese, Irish, Navajo, and American. I don't need an ignorant butt monkey like you venting out his idiocracy on my princess, or making her feel bad just because you're an idiot."
"I-"
Roy leaned in closer to whisper the next part of his triad.
"You know, I could have every single Teen Titan and member of the JLA coming down on your ass like the wrath of God for making my daughter feel bad just because she takes after her Vietnamese mother. But I wouldn't need them to. I could cave your empty head in just by using your fat, pimply ass as a dodge ball if I wanted to."
"He could, I've seen it." Lian said.
Roy took Chester and made him face Lian.
"Now what do you say to my daughter… punk?" Roy asked him.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." Chester apologized over and over again.
"Apology accepted." Lian said with a smile.
"Good. Now, try to be a little more open minded in the future, kay?" Roy patted Chester on the back, dropping all hostility and going back to his more easy-going attitude.
"Uh, uh…"
"Close enough. Hey princess!" Roy said as bent down to pick Lian up.
"Hi daddy!" Lian replied.
"You have fun at kindergarten today?"
"Yeah, the teacher read us some of the Wizard of Oz, and then we all got to draw our favorite characters."
"Yeah? Who'd you draw?"
"I drew the Scarecrow."
"Well what a coincidence, he's my favorite too."
"Yeah?"
Roy set Lian down and the two began to walk to Roy's jeep as Roy discussed their plans for the night.
"Come on. I thought tonight we'd make chili pizza with Grandpa's recipe. But first you wanna rent some movies on the way home?"
"Jackie Chan?" Lian expectedly asked.
"Naturally." Roy confirmed.
"Cool!" Lian cheered. "Bye Amy! See you tomorrow!" Lian waved to her classmate.
"Nice meeting you, Amy." Roy called to the other little girl.
"Bye Lian! Bye Mr. Harper!" Amy waved back.
Her cousin had slumped down to the ground.
"Chester? You gonna get up now?" Amy asked.
"I think I had an accident."