Peace Offering (Hal)

[Black Canary]

Players: Black Canary, Hal Jordan, Sin (NPC)
Location(s): Dinah Lance's apartment
Plot Summary: To make up for being himself, Hal Jordan is turned into a pizza boy.
--

"Okay, I've never cooked this before, so let me know if it's horrible," Dinah said as she poured some of the red sauce onto the plate of spaghetti. "Do you remember what this is called?" Sin twisted up her face in her usual expression that signaled she was seriously thinking. "Sgetti!" she concluded, smiling brightly. Dinah had missed that look. The girl's English had improved drastically during her time at the monastery, but she still had a long way to go. Asking her to start on Italian might be pushing it. "Almost," replied Dinah as she sat down at the table. "Spa-geh-tee." "Spa-geh-tee," Sin repeated as she loaded up her fork with a monstrous amount of the spaghetti and red sauce, then shoveled it into her mouth.

She made a face, her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk and her lips puckered tightly. Sin glanced at Dinah, who grimaced. "That bad, huh?" Sin swallowed her mouthful of spaghetti and visibly winced. "I do not like it, Sister," she admitted. "It makes my mouth unhappy." Dinah ducked her chin to hide her grin and shook her head. So much at her attempt at cooking her own marinara sauce. She knew she should have gone out to get some from the store instead of trying to make it from ketchup. "Well, I tried. I'll go order us some pizza then," she chuckled. It may not be the most nutritious meal, but she hadn't had much of a reason to do a lot of cooking lately and it wasn't fair to Sin to make her endure too many kitchen experiments. Her surrogate daughter had only been back with her for a few days, and so far most of their meals consisted of cold cereal, grilled cheese, macaroni, and chicken nuggets with some vegetables added on to each meal.

The blonde rose from the kitchen table (and cringed slightly as she did; as much of a miracle as it was that she had survived a meeting with Shiva, she had never expected to make it out of there unscathed) before heading over to the cell phone she had left on her counter top. Dinah picked up her phone, then smirked upon remembering the voicemails she had checked earlier that day. Forget tipping a pizza delivery guy; that man owed her for making her listen to Guy's drunken ranting. Dinah leaned her back against the counter and hesitated briefly before dialing Hal's number. Truth be told, she had been somewhat avoiding him. He was one of her closest friends - easily her best male friend - but it was pretty much guaranteed that Ollie would pop up in a conversation between them one way or another. Not exactly her favorite topic these days. After dialing, she brought the phone up to her ear and waited for Hal to pick up on the other end. "Hey, you lush," Dinah grinned when he answered. "Not too hungover still, are you?"

[Hal Jordan]

Hal Jordan was lost to the world. He lay alone in his condo, wrapped up in blanket and sheets as he snored so loud the walls of his place shuddered with each breath. The previous night had been a long one, and a wild one, and one laced with regrettable drunk dialing. All blame laid on the shoulders of Guy Gardner, of course. Now all the Green Lantern could do was sleep it off and hope his hangover would be gone by morning.

Hal's cellphone was set to vibrate tucked underneath his pillow making his head rumble with each ring. He was deep in dreamworld, a world where he had taken the wrong turn at Sector 5344 and found himself cornered and outnumbered by Star Sapphire. As a POW to the Sapphires Hal was forced to experience the true power of love, over and over and over. One of the pale skinned Sapphires grabbed Hal's head and began to vibrate it between her two, "Wha-huh?" Hal wiped drool from his face and sat up slowly. It was dark, still night time, and someone was calling?

Reaching under his pillow he felt around for a moment before grabbing his phone and slid it out, the brightness immediately attacked his sensitive eyes. His reaction time was impeccable as a set of green shades instantly appeared on his face to block out the harsh shine of his cellphone. Hal didn't usually sleep with his ring on but tonight he was happy he did. Looking out at the world in a green hue Hal checked to see who it was calling him. Dinah Lance. Reading the name caused his heart to skip a beat and then his pulse quickened. Hal was apprehensive, and reasonably so. After the messages he had left her the other night what were the chances that if he picked up that phone call there would be a Canary Cry awaiting him on the other end? Fairly high, Hal decided.

Very cautiously Hal answered, "Hello?" Quickly he yanked the phone from his ear, expecting the sonic scream to come at any second. His eyes were shut and his body braced tensely, but fortunately there was no eardrum bursting scream. Hal breathed a sigh of relief before placing the cell back to his ear. "Uh, kinda. But I'm in a much better shape than before. I swear I'm gonna kill Guy the next time I see him." One drink at Warriors ended up being six drinks there, another three on the fly to Vegas, bodyshots off what Hal was now realizing was too hairy to be a woman, and a few things that Hal would never repeat; even in thought. "What's up? Gotta say, you calling me now feels sorta like a trap..."

[Black Canary]

She had to admit to herself that she felt a bit silly for not making more of an effort to chat with Hal before now. Her recent visit with Zatanna had reminded Dinah of how important her friends were to her, and as eager as she was to avoid any conversations centered on her estranged husband, Ollie had already put her through enough hell over the years. She wasn't going to let him push her away from her friends, even from a distance. Now was as good a time as any to start getting her foot back in the door to social interaction, given that Hal had so kindly provided her with the perfect opportunity to give him all sorts of crap. Nobody left those kinds of messages on her phone and got away unharmed. "Oh, yeah, because Guy was the only one who had too much to drink," Dinah scoffed. Not like Hal would harm his fellow Green Lantern even if that was the case. The man could be serious when he needed to be but he was hardly better than Guy when he thought nobody was paying attention. Dinah doubted that Hal felt bad about the things that he had said (or the much more inappropriate comments Guy had made) but rather that they had fallen upon the wrong ears.

Dinah clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "So suspicious. It is a little bit, though." The blonde glanced back over at Sin, who had rocked her head back and was gleefully depositing non-sauce-covered strands of spaghetti into her mouth with her fingers. "How social are you feeling? I've got Sin here - long story, don't ask - and I botched our original dinner plans, if you can believe that. I promise to never laugh at you for the voicemails if you swing by with some pizza." That wasn't true, but she would be nice enough to not lord them over the poor man for an undecided period of time. Dinah doubted she would never laugh at the messages, given that she had saved them to her inbox just for giggles later on.

Aside from tormenting him for his drunken antics, she did hope that Hal wasn't too busy (aka too hungover). It had been a long time since she had seen him and much longer since Sin had seen 'Uncle Hal.' Hal would always be Hal and therefore do plenty of things that made Dinah sigh and roll her eyes in exasperation, she still enjoyed spending time with him and she didn't want to fall back into the rut of never seeing her friends. What better way to catch up than to sit around eating pizza and listening to Sin explain the most complicated strategies behind the Pokemon card game?

[Hal Jordan]

So there really wasn't a scream coming from the blond on the other end of the phone call? Hal's shoulders slumped as he finally relaxed himself upon realizing Dinah wasn't going to torture him too badly, thought that didn't mean she did have something up her sleeve to make him pay for what he'd said about her. In Hal's defense, the words he'd spoken were meant for the man the woman was formerly the wife of; they were never meant to be heard by Dinah. They were meant to show Ollie what he was missing out on, but things didn't sound all that good when you were the woman who's rack Hal was drunkenly complimenting. In a few days Hal was pretty sure he'd be able to laugh at himself for the whole thing but at the moment he just felt like an idea, and that he'd undeniably be living under Dinah's thumb for the next few years; he could see "remember those voicemails" being Dinah's go to weapon whenever she wanted to cash in a favor from him.

"You tried to cook?" Hal asked with a stifled laugh. "I'll be right over." Dinah Lance was a lot of things; a good friend, a great fighter, pretty good at running a flower shop, and a hell of a card player, but cooking? That was not one of the woman's strong points. "Poor Sin," Hal muttered into the phone, more teasingly than actually trying to hurt Dinah (though it wasn't like the woman would suffer hurt feelings so easily). "Any specific toppings you want?"

The green shades Hal wore dissipated as he tossed his sheets aside and finally stood up from his bed. Clamping the cell between shoulder and cheek Hal pulled on his pants that had been untidily discarded on his bedroom floor. After Dinah dictated the toppings of the pizza Hal ended the call and stuffed his phone into his pant pocket as a shirt was fished out of his clean clothes drawer. Pulling on a brown jacket Hal headed out of his condo and flew toward the nearest pizzeria. The wait for the pizza wasn't too bad and when he was finally handed the box containing the large pie Hal left a crumbled heap of dollars on the counter before exiting and flying off for Gotham.

Hal was wide awake now with his hangover finally subsiding when he floated down to the fire escape outside of Dinah's apartment. Handling the box of pizza like a well trained pizza boy Hal rapped Dinah's window with two knuckles and waited for either her or Sin to show up to let him in.

[Black Canary]

If Hal was trying to hide his laughter, he wasn't doing a very good job of it (though he probably actually wasn't). That was okay; Dinah's inability to cook anything more complicated than grilled cheese was a well-known fact among her friends, one that she was frequently teased about and that she had come to accept a long time ago. Some people just weren't meant to be Martha Stewart, and she was one of them. "Hey. Watch it, flyboy," Dinah smirked. At least he was being a good sport about her sort of blackmailing him, though she supposed that being blackmailed into getting some pizza wasn't the worst thing in the world.

The blonde momentarily covered the receiver so she could address her surrogate daughter. "Hey kiddo, what toppings do you want?" Dinah asked. Sin's overdramatized, thoughtful expression returned to her. "Pepperoni," she decided after several moments. There was some Italian she knew. Helena would be proud. Dinah grinned as she removed her hand. "The verdict is pepperoni," she answered. "Thanks, Hal." She tossed her phone back onto the counter after the call ended and ran a hand through her blonde hair as she looked back over at Sin. The girl hadn't really been herself since she had come to Gotham - and who could blame her, after what she had gone through? - so maybe a fun pizza night would help. Because pizza has the magical power of making you forget that you watched an entire monastery being slaughtered and then got the crap beat of you by Lady Shiva, Dinah thought bitterly, then dropped her arm and tried to shake the thought from her mind.

By the time Hal arrived, Dinah had disposed of most of the evidence of her disastrous dinner attempt. He didn't need to know what she had cooked, let alone just how bad it was. Dinah had sampled a bit of the sauce as she was cleaning up and quickly discovered that 'unhappy' was practically a compliment. One of these days she was going to make something reasonably complicated and not destroy it. She was just retrieving three paper plates when the tapping on her window signaled that Hal had arrived. "Hey Sin, go wash up, Uncle Hal's here," Dinah called. She had tried to get most of the marinara sauce off of her earlier, but knowing that girl there was probably still some left. Besides, she would need a second to warn Hal about Sin. While she was looking better after a few days of recovering, the cuts and bruises that marred the girl's body were still painfully visible. Dinah still walked with the stiff gait of someone who had gotten their ass kicked a bit, but given her job description, that was pretty typical.

The blonde set the plates aside and approached the window where she could see Hal waiting. Dinah flashed her friend a grin as she unlocked and lifted up on the pane, allowing him to float into the apartment. "Hey Hal," she greeted him, closing the window and locking it back up once he was indoors. "Thanks for the save." Dinah supposed that she could have attempted to make something else, but there was no guarantee that it would have turned out any better. Besides, this way she got to see one of her friends and laugh at him for being hungover. Everybody wins!

[Hal Jordan]

It'd been a while since Hal really got the chance to just sit back and have a good time as friends with the blonde haired woman who was now blackmailing him. Recent things had been so hectic for all of them lately; out of the two of them for Dinah especially. He'd tried comforting the woman and Ollie and Roy all after what'd happened with Lian, but he knew there was nothing that anyone could say or even do to ease the pain for any of them. Roy went off the deep end, Ollie became withdraw and colder than Hal had ever known him, and Dinah became even stronger. Hal had always admired the woman for her skill and her ability to keep herself under control under the worst of circumstance but the fact that Lian's death had not broken her was truly impressive, especially since the others in her family were not so well held together. But that was not a subject Hal cared to touch, there was no reason to open and prod wounds that still weren't healed; no matter how much it would appear they were.

Dinah had enough on her plate as it was and Hal had missed hanging out with friends, there was no need to make things anything more than an enjoyable afternoon. When Dinah appeared before the window Hal fed her a false frown but he couldn't hold it for too long. He dropped into the apartment and smirked at his friend, "Isn't that what I'm here for?" Whatever a friend needed if Hal could help in any way there was no doubt that the man would b there as soon as he could to lend a hand. Bringing a pizza to a friend who'd had her butt kicked not too long ago (and by the looks of her that was putting it lightly) and her adoptive daughter wasn't the worse favor Hal could be asked, especially since he was pretty hungry himself. "I would hug you but looks like you'd crumble if I tried. How many was it?" Hal asked as he lowered the pizza box and held in in front of him. If Dinah looked like that then there had to be a mob of ninja assassins to blame for it, and Hal would hate to see how they looked.

[Black Canary]

She had almost forgotten how chilly it was outside until the brief gust of air from outside lingered in her kitchen even after the window had been shut. Dinah would have felt bad if she didn't know that Hal's ring would protect him from Gotham winters. Still, it was sweet of him to actually do this instead of just going back to sleep (as she assumed he had been when she called). "You're an awful good sport for someone who just got blackmailed into being a pizza delivery boy," the blonde chuckled as she turned to look back over at her friend. He didn't look too worse for wear, but it wasn't like he didn't have plenty of experience when it came to going out and getting drunk with Guy.

Dinah stood on her toes to plant a quick peck on Hal's cheek as she accepted the pizza box from him. "Whatever. I've had worse," she said dismissively, moving to set the box on her kitchen table. "And it was just one." She glanced around the corner to where Sin was washing her hands (and apparently making a game out of trying not to pop a soap bubble in her palm) before she looked back at Hal and lowered her voice. "Lady Shiva found out where Sin was hiding," Dinah explained. "Connor and I had to go get her back, that's why she's staying with me again. She's been doing a little better, but..." She twisted her lips. "You've been warned." They were all used to seeing each other looking like she did presently, but a child in as physically damaged shape as Sin was right now? That was disturbing to anyone, even those accustomed to violence.

Sin bounded back toward them, a large smile on her battered face almost for the first time since she had returned. "Hi, Uncle Hal," she said shyly, darting forward to give him a quick hug before sidling over to the box of pizza on the table. The dark-haired girl lifted up the lid of the box and, at the sight of the sauce on the pizza, looked over at Dinah questioningly. Her surrogate mother, who was heading over to the fridge, pinched her lips together. Great. She'd scarred the poor girl. "It's safe, I promise. But wait til everyone's sitting down, okay?" Sin nodded and hopped into one of the seats at the table, her hands in her lap as she waited.

"Want anything to drink, Hal?" Dinah asked as she opened up the fridge door. "I've got water, milk, orange juice... I'd offer you a beer but I assume you've already had plenty." Okay, so that wasn't necessarily a jab at the voicemails themselves, just the intoxicated state he had been in when he left them. Unfortunately, Dinah had forgotten how damn good Sin was at taking the English slang she had learned, putting two and two together, and applying it to real life scenarios. Sin looked up at Hal and grinned. "Boozer!" she cried triumphantly, pointing her index finger at him accusingly. Dinah looked up from inside the fridge, glanced at Sin, glanced at Hal, then buried her face back inside the refrigerator so her wide grin couldn't be seen. "I don't know where she learns these things."

[Hal Jordan]

"I don't take kindly to blackmail, but I do enjoy my pizza." Hal smirked softly. A little blackmail amongst friends wasn't so bad. Hal put one arm around his friend briefly as she placed a quick peck on his cheek, it was actually surprising that she could still manage hobbling around in her state. Dinah really did look worse for wear, but being a woman who had previously been split between the Justice League and the Birds of Prey her statement of having worse was actually true; still, her current scars seemed to be ones that'd stick with her for a while.

The flyboy felt his brows involuntarily lift in surprise when Dinah told him that her battle wounds were the result of going at it with just one person, but when she name dropped who that person was Hal felt his blood run cold. Being that he was one of those space-faring heroes Hal wasn't much in the martial arts department thus he never had a reason to make enemies with Lady Shiva, but he'd been friends with Ollie and Dinah long enough to hear the horror stories. "Wow," it was pretty much all Hal could say as he spared a glance in Sin's direction, though she was still out of sight. He knew the whole backstory about Sin and what Shiva wanted with her and by Dinah's tone he could tell that Sin had been with Shiva for entirely too long. He just hoped that the girl was in better shape than Dinah.

Dinah didn't say much about what happened when she and Connor went after the woman but Hal's imaginative mind buzzed with all sorts of horrors. Hal's almond colored eyes refocused on the blond and he spoke with all seriousness, "I'm sorry, Dinah." His friend had been through even more than he had realized and not once was he there to help her. Hal hated to be the guy that let friends down but he knew Dinah didn't want him to feel that way so he tried his best to act natural and pretend everything was fine. Besides, she seemed fine now anyway and that was how Hal wanted to keep things.

Hal looked away from Dinah when Sin came bounding into the room, a delightful smile on her face despite the number of bruises and scars that were scattered over every bit of flesh that Hal could see. Instinctively the girl brought a smile to Hal's own face. "Hey there, kiddo!" She hugged him quick and Hal squeezed tight. Sin amazed him, she looked beyond battered with the appearance of someone who should have been laying in a hospital bed and yet she bounced around and smiled like any other ordinary kid who knew nothing about murderous kung-fu assassins. The girl was one tough cookie. As Sin found her place at the table Hal soon followed after her and took a seat himself. At Dinah's offering of beverages a part of Hal felt compelled to ask for the beer just for the sake of being an ass, but the mere thought of it caused him stomach to do a flop and threaten to send bile up his throat. "OJ. OJ's fine." The queasiness subsided.

However the assault on Hal's character was not yet over with, and this time it was the sweet faced Sin pointing fingers. Hal exaggerated a gasp, completely unshocked that the girl would have heard something like that thanks to the blond hiding herself in the fridge. "Oh I know. It was probably that Helena and Babs, they're mean little ladies." Hal leaned over toward Sin but with his eyes watching Dinah, "Probably cuz they're so frustrated."

[Black Canary]

Dinah shook her head. "Don't be. Please." She was far too tired of feeling sorry for herself to hear those words coming out of anyone's mouth, particularly one of her best friends. Getting Sin back hadn't exactly been the most pleasant experience of her life, especially given everything that had happened prior, but she was safe now and they had all survived the ordeal. That was all that really mattered. Dinah was painfully aware of how badly the whole thing could have gone and, really, it was something of a miracle that she and Sin were there now, and Connor was still alive and well in Star City.

At Hal's request, Dinah retrieved the carton of orange juice from the fridge, then set it on the counter before reaching for several glasses. She filled all three glasses up, then brought them over to the kitchen table prior to returning to the kitchen. Sin covered her mouth with her hands to (unsuccessfully) stifle her giggle at Hal's dramatic reaction to her name-calling. The words that followed, however, caused her to lower her hands and stare at the man, her eyes narrowed with thought and her lips pursed. "Why are they... frustrated?" Sin asked. Dinah shot Hal a momentary glare, the severity of which was ruined by the grin she was still trying to suppress. Sin was a smart kid and repeated everything she learned like a parrot, but fortunately she didn't understand the meaning of all of the words said around her just yet. "Never you mind," she replied to Sin as she retrieved the paper plates she had been collecting when Hal arrived, then snatched a few paper towels from the roll.

"I am telling them you said that, by the way," Dinah chuckled at Hal as she returned to the table, passed out the plates and napkins, and took her own seat. "And neither one of them is as nice as I am." Which said a lot, considering Hal was there because she had sort of blackmailed him. It was a friendly blackmail, it didn't really count. At least she wasn't a trigger-happy mafia princess or a hacker capable of erasing someone from existence over her morning coffee. "Okay, dig in," Dinah said. Sin had already started reaching for the box of pizza before she even finished her sentence. "Oh, sure, act like you're starving."

[Hal Jordan]

It really was amazing that more of them hadn't gone batshit crazy - more because Bruce was pretty much the posterboy for clear cut insanity - considering everything that just about all of their friends had gone through. As heroes who put themselves on the line constantly and advertised themselves as protectors it made every single one of them targets to sinister villains and raving madmen, and sometimes space parasites. Insanity should have had a much higher rate amongst superheroes thanks to all the things they'd experienced and witnessed, and yet here two of former stars of the Justice League sat about to enjoy a pizza together just like any ordinary folk. So whatever it was Dinah and Sin had gone through there was no doubt the two of them would be fine. Sin was quite strong and resilient for her age, just as she would heal physically she would also heal mentally. Hal looked at the child with a smile as she asked why Dinah's closest friends were so frustrated. "Long story." He managed to slip in before Dinah derailed that.

"Ah, so you're the reason my reputation is so bad with the opposite -" Hal glanced briefly at Sin, "- gender." He wasn't talking about the act of sex but still figured it'd be safer to go another route, he didn't want to be the blame for Sin running around shouting 'sex' at everyone. "Nice to finally know who's to blame." Hal accepted his juice from Dinah, luckily he made his comment before she had time to spit in it, and spread out his napkin before him.

Being the Hal was the guest he waited until both Sin and Dinah had loaded their plates with pizza slices before making his move on the pizza box, that was just proper manners. "It's okay Sin, I promise I won't let her make you any more home cooked meals, and if she tries you give me a call." There wasn't much Hal teased Dinah about, aside from wardrobe choice when fighting crime, but when it came to the woman's cooking it was utterly open season. It wasn't like Hal was the greatest chef on the planet or anything, its just that Dinah was so incredibly bad at it. When a friend could kick your ass you found comfort in the little things they could not completely master.

[Black Canary]

Dinah raised a brow as she bit into her slice of pizza. In no way, shape, or form was Hal's reputation with women her fault. She loved the guy, but he wasn't much better than Ollie when it came to women. Well, no, she shouldn't say that; Ollie was the king of making an ass of himself regarding the opposite sex. Hal was just a charming guy and he knew how to use that to his advantage. Unfortunately, the end result was typically the same. Helena was still out for blood thanks to that rumor he had started. The blonde shook her head after she had finished chewing her bite of pizza. "Heck no. That's all on you, buddy," she smirked, reaching to take a drink of her orange juice. "Yeah, buddy," Sin agreed, nodding expertly. There was no way she knew the details of what they were discussing, but Dinah was still glad to have Sin on her side. For the moment, at least.

Briefly, Dinah entertained the thought of reminding Hal of how close his shin was to her foot and how easy it would be to make him regret that comment. She had long since grown used to her attempts at cooking being mocked, though - she was often her own worst critic in that department - and if she went around kicking everyone who poked fun at her lack of domestic abilities, she would be hobbling around with a very sore foot. Besides, Sin seemed to be having fun ganging up on one adult at one moment and then the other the next, and Dinah couldn't bring herself to spoil the girl's enjoyment. Sin nodded seriously at Hal, her dark hair swaying as she did. "I will call you because I do not want to be poisoned," she said gravely, causing Dinah to choke on her orange juice. "And some of Sister's food might make me very sick."

Dinah was half coughing, half laughing as she set her glass of juice back on the table. "Jeez, Sin," she said hoarsely. "Little bit of an exaggeration, don't you think?" Sin looked puzzled. "Uh, making it sound worse than it is?" The little girl twisted her lips, then looked at Hal and shook her head. "No, I do not think so," she decided, then looked happily at her pizza before taking another bite. "This is gooder." Dinah sighed and let her forehead fall into her open palm. "I'm never putting you two in the same room ever again." This, it would seem, was a healthy dose of karma for blackmailing Hal... and probably for trying to cook for Sin, too, which was an equally serious offense.

[Hal Jordan]

Hal grabbed two slices of the pepperoni coated pizza and slapped them one on top of the other onto his plate. The pizza wasn't particularly greasy as he normally liked but he supposed that was actually something he should be grateful for than complain about. As Dinah denied her role in throwing dirt on Hal's reputation he lifted one of his slices and took a big bite out of the pizza, his stomach growled with thanks before he even swallowed. "Hey, you can't gang up on the pizza deliver guy." Hal played the offended role but still let a laugh slip past his lips, it was pretty hard keeping a straight face with how silly Sin was. "Who side're you on anyway?" He gave the girl a fake frown before poking his tongue out at her and smiling - and then he went back to devouring his pizza.

Dinah had promised not to ridicule him any more for those embarrassing messages he'd left on her machine but tonight seemed to be a pretty good indication that she'd be making up for it by targeting him in every other category; but really it was just what good friends did to one another and Hal honestly didn't expect any less from the woman. Hal was taking a drink of his ice cold orange juice with a large smile spreading now that Sin had apparently jumped ship and was now on his side against the treacherous Dinah Lance. "Good girl. And I'll tell Flash to have you some replacement meals on standby, he can deliver a lot faster than I can." Hal couldn't help but laughing again, it was obvious that the meal Dinah had fixed for Sin had caused the girl very much distress and Hal was loving every second of the girl's exaggerations. "Aw, don't say that. We still love you, isn't that right Sin?" Hal looked to the youngest at the table and playfully shook his head, she ignored him though and with a mouth full of pizza goodness she bounced her head like a bobblehead.

Time spent with Lady Shiva had clearly done nothing to break this little girl's spirit and Hal was amazed that she still acted very much like a child. The level of Hal's orange juice lowered as he took another drink from his glass. "So, Dinah, back in Gotham eh? How's it been?" Hal felt very disconnected from Dinah's life, while he was mostly up to speed on things involving Black Canary, he really was interested in how Dinah Lance was doing at this point in her life; though he was sure the topic of one Oliver Queen was to be avoided.

[Black Canary]

Was it really ganging up on Hal if it was all true? Dinah supposed the same could be said about his and Sin's comments about her cooking. They were all entitled to giving each other a bit of crap about each of their own shortcomings since they knew it was only a matter of time before the focus was turned from one of them to the other, then back again. That, to Dinah, was the sign of a strong friendship. They could torment each other all day and when it was all said and done, nobody's feelings were hurts. Sin seemed to have jumped on that bandwagon as well, as she quickly jutted her chin out and stuck her tongue out at Hal in response.

Dinah took a sip of her own orange juice before returning to her pizza, which was admittedly a much better dinner than what she had prepared earlier. Maybe she ought to be nicer to Hal, since he had sort of rescued their taste buds. Or not. It wasn't nearly as much fun as poking fun at him was. "Yeah, well you guys have a funny way of showing it," Dinah huffed dramatically, as though their attacks had crossed some sort of line. Again, it was nothing she hadn't heard before (or said herself) so it was more amusing, but still! She couldn't believe how quickly Sin had decided to join Hal's side. It was worth it to see the girl smile, though. The poor kid needed it, and if it made her happy even for a little while, Dinah was willing to share in the responsibilities of being the victim.

Hal's question elicited a shrug as Dinah chewed on a bite of pizza. It was something she had been asked several times since she had returned to Gotham, but every time someone did, she was reminded of how well things really had been going since she had left Star City. Gotham wasn't exactly anyone's dream destination, but for someone who had grown up with all of the madness, there was still something soothing about being back. Mostly because not a single thing here reminded her of Ollie, but it was still more than that. The fresh start that being in Gotham provided was exactly what she had needed. "It's been pretty nice," Dinah answered, reaching over with her empty hand to pick up Sin's napkin and had it to her so the girl could clean up the smear of sauce on her cheek. "Been thinking of getting the flower business up and running here, but heck if I've been able to find the time to actually make any progress there." It would be worth it to have her store in Gotham, though. The income wasn't really necessary - her Birds of Prey checks would keep the lights on for years if she was smart with the money - but god only knew that she needed something to keep her sane.

[Hal Jordan]

Dinah and Sin seemed to be in much better shape than their appearances would let on, and for that Hal was thankful because they really looked like they'd gone through hell and back at least ten times. Their spirits were amazingly high and that was effecting Hal on a level, though he wasn't in anything nearly as bad as the two of them as of late their energy was uplifting him and making him feel as though he could handle anything. That and the pizza was delicious. "Pretty nice." Hal smirked, "Haven't heard Gotham described like that before."

Gotham was certainly an odd place. It was dark, gloomy, neck-deep in corruption, and murder was as high as Willie Nelson; and yet everyone from the place seemed to love it unconditionally. "I've kind of been thinking about that. Flowers would definitely brighten this city up but what if you opened a dojo? No, I'm not joking," Hal laughed because he was sure the woman would think it was some kind of joke. "I'm sure you'd be great at it and the city could really use some defense adept citizens." And who better to appropriately prepare these people than Dinah? "Of course you'll have to call it Hal's Dojo, since I came up with the idea and all."

He was sure that'd give Dinah something to do other than run around in fishnets screaming at badguys, it'd also be a nice environment for Sin to see others actually learning to defend themselves instead of just dishing out pain like Shiva was most likely teaching.

[Black Canary]

'Pretty nice' was admittedly the last way most people would describe Gotham, but it wasn't all bad. It kept her busy, and some of her best friends also called the city home. Gotham had its charms if one took the time to notice them, and when the Joker wasn't blowing something up or Killer Croc wasn't eating someone, it really wasn't all bad. Except the weather, of course. The weather was always miserable. "Yeah, well, doesn't take too long for the crazy to sink back in," Dinah grinned. She probably was a little nuts for not only returning to her hometown but actually thriving in it, though there were many other things that could mark her as insane and this was probably the least of them.

The blonde quirked a brow when Hal admitted to mulling over her business prospects, then lowered it as she frowned thoughtfully immediately afterward. It wasn't a bad idea, but Dinah wasn't sure how she felt about it. Hal was absolutely right in that the people of this city needed to know how to defend themselves, though she wasn't convinced that she was the best person to teach them. Her flower shop had always been a place of peace, somewhere she could go to withdraw from the insanity of the world - her world. Would a dojo still allow for that? Dinah had always felt relaxed at a dojo when she was younger and still training, but she hadn't been Black Canary then; or at least, not a Black Canary with any kind of reputation of her own to go with the name. She wouldn't be sure if anyone would want to train with her because they earnestly desired to study martial arts or if they just wanted to brag that they had trained with a member of the Justice League.

Then again, was it selfish not to teach other people? It wasn't as though Dinah had never taken on any students before, but definitely not like what Hal was suggesting. The people of Gotham needed help and this was one way to do that. The blonde let out a short laugh at the name suggestion. "You have to be able to do more than punch someone with a giant green fist to get your name on a dojo," Dinah said teasingly. Hal was nobody to mess with, with or without his ring, but he was far from a martial arts master. "I dunno, I'd have to think about it," she continued more seriously, pursing her lips as she looked down at her pizza. "It would be worth checking out, at least." Her blue eyes shifted sideways to Sin, who had fallen silent as she removed a slice of pepperoni from her pizza and ate it separately. It might be a good environment for Sin, who related groups of martial artists solely with pain and cruelty.