Dinah Lance

Pick-up lines? I've had my share of them.

It's odd. I think men actually believe in their little hearts that they are being clever. But I've never known a woman to share that belief.

A little tip, fellas? If a woman can tell it is a line, you are doing it wrong.

Another tip? If you are using that line to try to get into her pants, she'll be able to tell. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that you won't be able to get into her pants, but if you're trying to be sly and act as though she won't know?

Yeah, don't kid yourself, guys. We're smarter than you know. Most of the time, we're smarter than you, period.

Honestly, the best pick-up lines I've ever have showed that the man had a brain and respected my intelligence enough to know that I could see through a pathetic attempt at most run of the mill pick-up lines. Those are very rare, but they're also the only pick-up lines to actually do what pick-ups are supposed to do.

Dinah Lance, Black Canary II/178 Worlds/Birds of Prey

I would like to see the phrase "shade of grey" gotten rid of. Let’s be honest, has anyone who was a good, decent human being ever claimed to be working on the shade of grey side of justice? No. Mercenaries, killers, and general scum bags are the only people who believe in that nonsense. Well, and their foolish groupies. Harley Quinn probably believed in the concept of "shades of grey," too.

No one is truly grey. People pick to do the right thing or the wrong thing. I’ve picked to the right thing for the majority of my life. My family has as well. For a while, when we lived in Seattle, we chose to do the wrong thing.

I regret those decisions, they were foolish, and went against everything I believe in. They went against everything Ollie stood for too, even and including when he did them. But we’re adults. So we step up to the plate and claim responsibility. We don’t whine and bitch about having shades of grey.

It’s a concept only assholes, super-villains, and fools buy into.

Dinah Lance, Black Canary/ Birds of Prey/180 Words

I don’t actually like to talk about it very much. It’s not my greatest moment, by far.

I mean, I’m a hero. I’m supposed to be strong, and I’m supposed to help others. But on what was undoubtedly the longest day of my life, I was made into the victim. I’d like to say that there were a lot of them, and that I had no chance or prayer of getting away.

But the simple fact is that there weren’t that many, and I should have been able to escape. That I didn’t was no more than a stupid, foolish mistake, and it was a mistake that cost me dearly. I was tied up and tortured and all the efforts I put into training to follow my mother and my uncles fell to the wayside. None of my training was enough to make me strong enough to break free by myself..

I had to wait for Ollie. He saved me, and the price we ultimately paid was the relationship between us. For me, the cost was much greater. I paid with my voice and my dignity, for years, until Oracle came along and gave me direction.

I don’t like to think of that day, and usually don’t. Because it’s a silly reminder of everything that I no longer am.

Dinah Lance/Black Canary/Fandom: Birds of Prey/ 219 Words

Three hundred pages? That’s a little wordy, isn’t it? I assume that’s roughly chapter 5, if each chapter is 10 pages (if I’m going to be wordy, might as well go the whole distance.)

So, chapter 1: Mom and Dad’s background, which is essentially to understanding me.
Chapter 2: Growing up, excerpts about my uncles.
Chapter 3: The bitchfests begin with Mom about following in her steps
Chapter 4: The stupidity of marriage number one (should be about a page, I suspect) and going into the family business.

Which brings us to near the end of chapter 5. By this point I should have been in the League, I imagine and figuring out who my colleagues were.

"I wasn’t the first woman in the Justice League. That spot would forever go to Wonder Woman. But I was in, and anyone with any sense could tell that we would learn a lot from each other.

She was a lot like me, really. Both of us had a long legacy to live up to. With Diana, she had a warrior culture that didn’t quite understand the way things worked in this new world. For me, the problem was more about understanding exactly how things worked, and trying to figure out how to carve my own path regardless of the JSA shadow looming.

Superman and Batman were impressive. Green Lantern and Flash were cute. But it was Wonder Woman I looked forward to getting to know the most."

Black Canary, Dinah Lance/Birds of Prey/245 Words
OOC:  thanks to speedy_boyo for looking up canon for me. *G*

I don’t particularly like to negotiate, per se.  I find it much easier just to deliver a good kick in the face or the crotch. Fixes things much faster.

But if we’re going to pretend to negotiate:

1.) Throw your party off the fact that you are better and stronger than they are.  In my case, the fishnets and the blond hair work great for that. They never suspect that a flying fishnet is going to be the last thing they see before they are knocked out.

2.) Don’t be afraid to flirt a little. I’ve spent my share of time flirting with crazy assassins when the circumstances called for it. It works. In my experience, the bad guys are usually arrogant enough to believe that a hero would be immoral enough to fall for them. Never mind that it doesn’t make any sense, of course. Flirt hard enough, and you’ll have that mercenary eating out of your hands. Right before you kick his ass.

3.) Be patient. Various romantic partners of mine usually have failed this one over the years, sad to say.

4.) Do the appropriate research before you go into the "negotiation." If you’ve let yourself not be prepared, the bad guy’s going to know.

5.) If all else fails, hit hard and aim low.

Dinah Lance/Black Canary II/Birds of Prey/216 Words

OOC: The first part is at Roy's journal, and the second at Cassie's.

My parents loved the Olympics. My mother, in her more … maternal days… used to tell me that choosing that path would be a much better way to use my physical skills. The ones that she knew my uncles were teaching her behind her back.

She wanted me to be an ice skater. Poor woman.

When I was ten, a group of super villains busted in on the Olympics. They were low level super villains, but it was still my favorite uncles in the JSA that stopped them.

That was the type of Olympic champion I wanted to be.

Poor, poor Mom.

I think about that, vaguely, as I walk in to Roy’s apartment and hear him mutter advice not to eat my cooking. I give my boy-o a good smack upside my head and settle down between them.

The conversation stays casual, because right now, I think that’s what Cassie needs. I’m rewarded when the poor girl leans up against me, and falls asleep, sometime during the ice skating.

I stay awake, for Roy’s sake. And for dear old Mom’s, too.

Dinah Lance, Black Canary/ Fandom: Birds of Prey/182 Words

Sometimes I miss the hair, to be honest. The old, black mess.

Sure, the wigs were uncomfortable and hot and really a bother in battle. That’s why I ultimately decided to go without them.

But it allowed me a greater ease of putting the "Canary" part of my life away, to let me focus on the Dinah part. It’s something we all struggle with, everyone in this business. I don’t as much as say, Batman or the current Robin. But no one can be a superhero twenty-four hours a day. Not even Superman. It’ll drive you crazy. Trust me, I tried that.  After the incident that made me lose my voice, I tried to be Canary twenty-four seven for a while. Came pretty close to Batman-level crazy.

I have a pretty good balance these days.  But I still miss the feeling at the end of the day, when my lover pulls the wig off and runs his hands lazily through my hair. It was more of a welcome home - welcome back Dinah - than we can currently engage in.

Not that our current sex life is bad, mind you. The wig just…added to it.

Dinah Lance, Black Canary II/Birds of Prey/196 Words

I live with a man I love.

I never actually thought any of this would work out. Ollie and I aren’t the marrying type, for one thing. Well, Ollie certainly isn’t.

For another, we’ve had far too many ups and downs to actually try to make a successful attempt at this yet another time. The last time it ended, I was certain that would be the last attempt.

I even made certain to tell him that I didn’t love him, when I was walking out the door.

Yet here we are. Cohabitating, and dancing around the discussion of children, even. Well, more children than the brood we already have.

It’s kind of wonderful.

It’s also kind of terrifying, because Ollie and I always have the kind of relationship where, even when things are happy, you know the ice is getting weak beneath your feet.

I keep waiting for the relationship to crumble, while hoping desperately that it won’t.

Muse: Dinah Lance/Black Canary
Fandom: Birds of Prey
Word Count: 158

Of course it’s okay to be unkind. As superheroes, being unkind is part of our job. Are we supposed to treat the bad guys with kid gloves? I don’t think so.

I think that, short of killing, anything we have to do to catch the villains is acceptable. There are those that disagree with me. Wonder Woman and Superman, for starters. But as far as I’m concerned, if I have to flirt and lie and give a general impression that I’m interested in someone that I know is a creep in order to put him behind bars, I’m okay with that. Very okay with that, and let me tell you, the fishnets work wonders in helping me convince the creeps that I’m interested.

There are people - my husband for one - who don’t really approve of me flirting with the creeps before I kick their butt and send them away. I’ve sat through more than one lecture from Diana about the dishonesty of it all.

But it’s not like the creeps don’t know that I’m a superheroine from the start. If they’re dumb enough to believe that I could ever want a lowlife like them, that’s their problem, as far as I’m concerned.

Dinah Lance, Black Canary II/Birds of Prey/204 words

[locked to those who know the Birds' identities]

If I could get anyone drunk, I would pick Barbara.

When we first formed the Birds, years ago, Barbara was a lot more easy-going than she currently is. Sure, she's always been super-serious, and I must have driven her crazy with my own complete lack of decorum.

But there were times when I heard her laughing on the other end of the line. There were times when a mission was done well and we would celebrate. Sometimes we'd even have a glass - or bottle - of wine to rejoice in a job well done.

Barbara hasn't been that woman in a long time. I can't remember the last time I heard her laugh - something that was a problem even before I left to marry Ollie.

I know we all have to grow up and change is inevitable, but I miss the woman that Barbara used to be.

I wish I could have her back, even if it took getting us both wasted to do it.

Dinah Lance, Black Canary II/Birds of Prey/166 Words
OOC: Barbara is used with permission of her mun because godmodding is yucky.

By 3 am, Ollie's usually asleep. He falls awake with me in his arms, and I lie there, listening to him breathe, thinking about how happy we are. By about 3:05, my mind starts to wander to Sin, the daughter I left behind. Or, rather, the daughter I let Ollie take away from me.

This close to Ollie, I can't help but remember how things used to be between us, when we used to dream of starting a family, back before the doctor told me that could never happen. How many times we used to practice...every detail of the unborn child's room that I planned.. How crushed I was when my the doctor told me I couldn't bear a child.

I probably can now. When my voice healed, everything else did as well, and it would be stupid to assume that I can't conceive.

But as I lie here in Ollie's arms and I think about the child I willingly abandoned, I'm not sure I deserve to be anyone's mother.

Dinah Lance, Black Canary II/Fandom: Birds of Prey/Word Count: 169

( Prompt 227 - A friend asks you to recommend a book: which book would you choose and why? )Dinah Lance, Black Canary II/Birds of Prey/173 Words

My mother never wanted this life for me. I've written about her before, of course, and will probably write about her again, as my memories are all I have left of her.

I used to call her a hypocrite for it. I used to claim that she had no right to try to keep me from doing the same job she did. Her reply was always the same. The world had gotten a lot worse and the villains had beocme a much larger threat since she'd worn the costume. I never believed her, of course. I thought she was full of it, and I was dertermined to prove that as I set out on my own.

But these days, I look around at all the scum we're fighting, and I think maybe she's right. Maybe it was worse than her day when I set out. Maybe it keeps getting worse.

That scares me. It scares me from the perspective of the "mother" that I am to Roy, Connor, and Mia, it scares me as the wife I am to Ollie, and it scares me when I consider the fact that someday Roy's little girl is going to want to follow in his footsteps.

Someday, I'm going to face the fact that the world is much more mad than they ever were before, and still sit back as Roy sends Lian into battle to face those mad men. The thought terrifies me, and I have no idea how my mother was strong enough to sit by while I did it.

Dinah Lance, Black Canary II/ Birds of Prey/259 words

With everything that had been going on lately, Dinah hadn't seen a whole lot of Roy, despite being on the same team, and she missed just having free time with him. Whenever she went too long without seeing Roy, it made her start to think about the long days and weeks that the boy had been left alone years ago, and what that had driven him to.  She didn't believe for one second Roy would ever make that mistake again, but Dinah did have plenty of guilt that wasn't very pleasant to revisit stored up.

She pulled out a fresh plate of cookies, out of habit, even if Lian wouldn't be coming on this trip. Also, they served the purpose of reminding Roy exactly how badly she cooked, which in turn almost guaranteed a continued stream of Roy Harper food stuffs making its way into her kitchen. Boy-o could cook, that was for sure.

Burned chocolate chip cookies the color of charcoal sat on the table as Dinah waited impatiently for Roy to show up.

[locked to all those that know about the Identity Crisis flashback events]

I was never more certain that a man deserved to pay for what he’d done than I was as we stood gathered around Dr. Light and urged Zatanna to make certain he’d never do it to another human being ever again. That’s why we all did it. We weren’t doing it to be cruel or purposefully misusing our power. We were doing it because the bastard promised he’d do it again. Cruelty and revenge were beyond Barry Allen, after all. We had to have some higher motivation for him to agree.

I might not have initially agreed with the idea, and may have argued against it, but in that instant that the procedure was done, I knew it was the right thing to do. Years later, while hunting scum on the west coast, I’d be given even more reason to agree that what we did to Arthur Light was just.

But as the news reports of his attack on the Titans come in, I pray that none of them are injured. Because if they are, there is no doubt in my mind that I, and every person in the watchtower that day, will bear the responsibility for it.


Dinah Lance, Black Canary II/Birds of Prey/ 199 words

My mother used to tell me that my life would be a happier one if I stayed home and didn’t follow her footsteps into a superhero career.  "Dinah," she used to say, "You’ll be much happier if you find yourself a good man and settle down. Get married and concentrate on your family.  You’ll be a much happier woman if you do."

My mother was a pretty miserable woman all her life, so I suppose I should forgive her for not having any idea what "happy" meant.  She was also not the best mother a little girl could ask for, so I should not be surprised that she had no idea what would have made me happy.

Putting on my costume makes me happier than any husband ever could. Going out and kicking as much super-villian butt as possible makes me far happier than any "family" ever could.  I couldn’t be complete if I didn’t do what I do.

Moreover, the family that I do have - Roy, Lian, Connor, Mia, Hal, the League - I’m closer to those people than she ever was with my father, or that I was with He Who Shall Not Be Named That I Was Foolish Enough To Marry When I Was Too Young To Know Better.

I tried it her way…for a while.  But whether it was a purposeful lie or not, my mother was wrong and my only regret is that I wasted so much time trying to find the happily ever after that she promised existed.

Dinah Lance, Black Canary II/Birds of Prey/ 255 Words