11636/Gladys Evans Invades the Tower

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Gladys Evans Invades the Tower
Date of Scene: 17 June 2022
Location: Main Room - Titan's Tower
Synopsis: Gladys visits the tower in the wake of Morrigan's death, and learns more about her daughter's recent adventures than Maddie would have liked.
Cast of Characters: Madison Evans, Irie West, Terry O'Neil, Victor Stone




Madison Evans has posed:
    Iris made sure that the security system in the tower would recognize Gladys Evans when she arrives - so the middle aged woman has no trouble reaching the tower's main room, striding in wearing a skirt, a blouse, some sensible flats, and just enough jewelry to complete the ensemble in a classy, professional manner.
    But her expression is one of pinched anxiety as she steps out of the elevator, taking in the massive room, as her gaze searches for signs of a familiar teen - who really ought to be in Egypt, and yet somehow wasn't. "Hello?" the woman calls. "I'm looking for Madison."
    Madison, meanwhile, is still in Irie's room where the notification of Gladys' arrival has just chimed through. Maddie and Irie had finished the latest episode of Kenobi - and were working on some miniature painting while talking about the episode - rather than the traumatic event that still has Madison's features pinched with grief and trauma. "Look, but what if //instead// of a droid, they'd-" She cuts off at the announcement, looking to where she //thinks// the speaker is located in the room before saying simply, "Oh Gosh."

Irie West has posed:
    "I know, but what if-" Iris says when a little chime alerts them to Glady's presence. "Come on," she says gently, standing up. "We'll finish painting these once your mother knows that you're okay." Well, as okay as anybody could be expected to be given the circumstances.

    She picks up the T-Com and sets it to intercom. "Hi, Ms. Evans. We're up in my room. We'll be right down." She reaches out a hand to take Madison's and says, "C'mon. Let's go face your mom."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The Cheshire looks up from the kitchen island when he hears a voice. It is a voice he hasn't heard before. So he is curious.

He is also higher than a flag on the Fourth of July.

"Hello!" he says, giving Mrs. Evans a trademark Cheshire grin as he pours himself some water from the pitcher. Unfortunately, the glass he is meant to be pouring it into is about a foot away from him on the counter, which now doubles as a waterfall because of this, "Are you Mrs. Evans? You do look like Mrs. Evans. It is /so/ nice to meet you, Mrs. Evans!" Vorpal is looking at her.

Ok, approximately at her. Within a foot or so. "I'm Vorpal. I'm the Cesire Chat and- Cheshter Hat. Cheshire. Cat. And I'm a friend of Madison's."

He walks over to her, a hand politely extended in greeting.

The pitcher is still pouring. Somehow, suspended in midair.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic was already in the room, making sandwiches. Why sandwiches? Why /not/ sandwiches? He's hungry, and sandwiches are food for hungry people. Also it's easy to make more if anyone else wants any--so he is, naturally, making a sandwich for Terry. Maybe he'll eat it, maybe he won't. But it's polite to make one. There are also maybe sandwiches being made for Iris and Madison if the girls would want them.

    He freezes on hearing the woman's voice calling for Madison, and looks up with wide eyes. Oh no. /Madison's mom/. "Uhh. Hello. Ms. Evans. Yes. I'm Victor Stone, friend of Madison's. She's in with Irie, like she said."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "It's Ms. Evans, actually," the woman corrects the... man? in front of her. Gladys does shakes the offered hand, however, while sparing a glance towards the pitcher that had been left behind. "Madison's father and I have been divorced for quite some time. You're... spilling the water everywhee," she points out helpfully.
    "Iris!" she adds, raising her voice as Irie's words come through the speaker. "I'll wait here, I suppose!"
    Her attention returns to Terry, who she studies up and down before remarking, "Madison has spoken of you. That's had very kind things to say." But from Gladys' expression, she's not certain she entirely agrees.
    Her attention turns to Victor as well - her expression softening slightly as she adds, "Mr. Stone - Maddie's told me you've been teaching her how to build circuits, and work with wires and other technology. Thank you for taking the time for her." Despite her friendly words, though, her eyes remain tense with worry.
    Madison nods to Irie - washing her brush before taking a deep breath - and heading down to meet her mother. How badly could this possibly go-
    Of course, that's right about when her eye lands on Terry. Oh no.

Irie West has posed:
    Iris winces when she sees that Mads' mom has already met Terry. And Terry still looks kinda high. Oh dear. "Hi, Ms. Evans!" Iris calls out waving with the hand that's not holding her friends. "I, ah, see you've met Terry and Vic. Terry is the one that teleported Mads from Egypt to my room. He's a good friend but..." she lowers her voice to a conspirational whisper, "he's kinda weird."

    "Do you want anything to eat? Drink?" she asks, breaking away from Mads. "We've got... well..." she gestures at the kitchen, "probably just about anything you might like. Our kitchen is /huge/."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Ms. Ms. Evans. Ms. Mzzz...." Vorpal tries that out a few times, and then nods, satisfied, "It's so kind of her to say those things. Which were kind. About me." Did she shake his hand? He forgets. "Oh... right, the water. Cut it out!" He says to the pitcher of water. A pair of kitchen scissors dislodge themselves from the side of the refrigerator and snip snip at the stream of water, which stops flowing. Then the pitcher rights itself.

His ears twitch as Iris speak. "You're going to have forgive me, ma'am. I'm not exactly in what one might call non compost minnies. Y'see, I kind of got almost torn in half by the Jabberwock until one of my boyfriends stole the Cheshire Cat from me and then he gave it back so I could go to my first witchcraft class in a floating castle in the middle of nothingness and once I was there I got crowned the fairy queen of Wonderland by the goddess of Truth and I think her flowers of truth kind of had an effect on me and I've been loopy ever since!"

He did just say that without taking a breath. He blinks, and digs into his suit, and takes out a blue flower. "Would you like one? They smell of facts."

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic blinks a few times at Gladys and then nods. "Uhh, thank you. I've been glad to help. And Victor's fine, Mr. Stone is... odd." Oh, no, is he getting old enough to be /Mr. Stone/? Perish the thought.

    He eyes Terry. "Yeah, uhh... it's been a long..." Week? Month? Year? "...We've been busy," he manages. "But, yeah, we've got plenty of food and drink, we have to feed multiple speedsters and all." He gestures toward the sandwiches he was making. Ten of them, for four people, and the six he meant for Iris would probably amount to a light snack.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "I'm quite fine, Iris. Thank you. Though - Maddie, do you need anything, sweetheart?"
    "No, I'm good, mom. Irie already got me some cocoa," Madison confides.
    Gladys' gaze remains locked onto her daughter's subdued features, a worried frown on her features. "If you're sur-" Even the most wellmeaning concern, though, can be waylaid by Terry. She shifts her attention to watch him, her mouth going slightly agape for a moment (and she'd thought Madison had a tendency for ridisulous tales! Things were certainly being put into perspective, now. "The flower is lovely. Thank you," she says - unsure what else to say as she accepts it - before shooting a look to Irie and Victor. Is this man //alright//?
    "Alright - Victor if you prefer. But I really wasn't planning on staying long - I only came to pick Maddie up."
    "Pick me up?" Madison echoes, glancing at Irie for a moment, then back to her mother. "I, uhh- I was hoping, actually..." She didn't want to go back to Happy Harbor - not tonight. It wouldn't //feel// right.

Irie West has posed:
    Iris just gives Gladys a helpless shrug. This is Terry just being... Terry. But when she says that she's here to pick Maddie up, Iris steps forward to interpose herself between the woman and her friend. "Maddie's going to stay with me tonight," she says firmly. "She's been through a lot today and wants to spend the night." Would Irie of 16 be this forward? Probably not. But an adult Iris of 26 would.

    "Look," she says, backing down a bit, "sorry. I know you're worried about her and just want her to be safe, but, really, the only place safer than here is the Justice League headquarters. I promise tomorrow we'll get her home even if I have to run her there myself, okay?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal blinks again, trying to gain some more focus. "Sorry. I'm just... I got blasted with the kind of magic that makes you go..." he waves a hand, and little winged fairies appear around Gladys. The effervescent creatures circle her in one ecstatic circle before they disperse in various paths of pixie dust. That's really actually just glitter. Sorry. "Has it ever happened to you? I'm /really/ trying to not just navel-gaze and be in the moment." Blink blink blink at Iris.

"What were we- OH YEAH, Maddie. She will be safe here, Ms. Maddie's Mom. We'll take care of her. Why, you should have seen little Maddie the other day, she fought... she fought /trees/, ma'am, vicious trees with branches. And Harley Quinn was by her side slinging bombs and then they got lost in the magic forest but then they came out and she's right here isn't she so therefore she won't get lost again and we will take great care of her..."

Slow blink. He glances from Victor (HEY WHEN DID HE GET HERE?) to Iris (IRIS YOU ARE LOOKING OLDER, HOW TIME PASSES, SUNRIIIISE SUNSET) to Maddie (JEDI), and then back to Gladys.

And he makes the effort, bless his heart. He clearly makes the effort to shake off the effects, because he manages to be coherent for a little bit. "We will all pitch in to be with her and help, ma'am. Most of us are responsible adults..." and then he starts losing focus, "'cept me right now... until the effects of this magic wear off HEY VIC when did you come in?" he stares at Victor.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic, during Terry's /whole/ speech, has been trying to shush him. Doing motions, trying to make them subtle, like the classic 'cut it out' across the neck gesture. He gives up, finally, and grabs a sandwich and shoves it into Terry's mouth as he stares. "Eat! Eat. You need your strength, man, after that... uhhh... truth flowers?" He doesn't know. He really doesn't.

    He looks around to Gladys and says, "Yeaaaaah we all went to Wonderland and Madison... sort of came along with us. But she was fine, we handled everything, America Chavez had an eye on her." Never mind that America lost her name too. "/But/ we're not going /anywhere/ right now, because we're waiting on, uhh... we need proper preparations to go back there. You know, uhh, supplies and training, stuff like that." Like Gar practicing as the Cheshire. Ooof.

Madison Evans has posed:
    As Irie interjects, Gladys looks quite affronted - though the expression doesn't last. It was only natural for any mother to be quite annoyed when being told what her grieving and traumatized daughter needs.
    Perhaps luckily for Irie, though, Terry opens his mouth - and inserts his foot. She goes from eyeing the fairies, and trying to brush off the glitter (even in her rather morose state, Madison has to smile at the sight of her mother covered in glitter), to staring at Terry as he speaks. She seems about to dismiss it as the fever dream of a madman if not for Madison suddenly looking quite stricken, and Victor's attempts to silence him.
    She fixes her gaze on Madison.
    "You want to stay here tonight?"
    "Yes, mom."
    "And you'll //stay// here until you come home tomorrow?"
    "Yes, mom."
    "...alright," Gladys relents. "I love you. And tomorrow... you can tell me what happened, if you like. Or we can talk about other things, if you like. But I am going to find you a therapist to talk to. Is that clear?" And dealing with whatever it was the cat had let out of the bag... can wait until that's dealt with.
    "... yes mom." Abrubtly, Madison runs past Irie to wrap her arms around her mother, bursting into tears as she adds, "Love you, too."

Irie West has posed:
    Iris just facepalms /with both palms/ as Terry just kind of ... makes things worse. It's not as bad as she expected it to be when Gladys relents to let Madison stay the night, though. "Thank you, Ms. Evans," she says. "I promise that she won't go anywhere tonight. It's just gonna be me, her, our minis and some hot cocoa tonight."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Anf mffoies" Vorpal says, chomping on the sandwich. "And movies. We've got Encanto. And... Encanto. And the Encanto special edition with commentaries... and we can bake and do each other's make-up..." he grows quiet when Maddie starts crying. Sandwich in one hand, he's still pretty out of it, but he manages to pat Maddie's shoulder gently.

"It's ok dear... let me bring you some water."

And he turns around and walks to the kitchen. And past it. And ends up walking into the pantry. A few seconds later, there's the sound of something crashing.

He comes back, white from head to toe, covered in flour. "I couldn't find the water," he says, sadly.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic watches all of this and blinks for a moment, then frowns thoughtfully. Eyes Terry for a moment, just as thoughtfully. Then he straightens himself a bit and looks to Gladys.

    "Ms. Evans... I just wanted to say... having Madison around the last few months has been a real pleasure. She's smart, and fun, and kind, and very brave. She, uhh..." He rubs at the back of his neck. "She should /probably/ tell you everything that she's been getting up to. But... after that, if you wanted to consider..."

    He takes a deep breath. Lets it out. Continues, "I know a lot of people think of the Titans as a group of young superheroes, and we are. But more than that, /before/ that, we're family. We take care of each other, we keep an eye on each other. I think Madison has the right stuff to be part of the Titans, and the other leaders agree with me. She's already part of the family, one way or another, but uhh... well. If you'd trust us with her in the future, I promise she'll be safe. And we'll make sure you /know where she is/." He actually fixes Madison with a bit of a glare, just for a moment, Grandmamma peeking out through that red-eyed glare.

Madison Evans has posed:
    There are tears in Gladys' eyes as well, as she hugs her daughter. "Encanto sounds like a wonderful idea," she agrees, before fixing her gaze on Victor.
    "I need you to understand something. Madison... is my only daughter. My only child. As far as I am concerned, there's nothing in the known universe as important as she is. I think that sounds like an important conversation to have - and we should have it soon, but now is not the right time." As she's talking, she continues holding Madison to her with one arm - while stroking the girl's hair with her other hand.
    "I appreciate your honesty, even if it was a bit forced by your friend's... current state." She also takes a moment to fix Irie with a frown, communicating her disapproval at learning that Madison and Irie have //both// been keeping secrets from her.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Victor nods. "Of course, Ms. Evans. Trust me... I know what a parent will do to protect their only child." His brow furrows, briefly, and he rubs his hand across the chrome side of his head. He does know, all too well. "She's safe with us tonight. Well. As safe as she can be from Terry's /literal/ caterwauling." He grins at his friend, briefly, to try to break the tension.

    "...Okay seriously though, Iris, are you gonna eat these or do I need to go see if Gar is hungry? 'Cause... that's a lot of food, even for me."

Madison Evans has posed:
    After Irie has the decency to look contrite, Gladys returns her attention to Victor, giving him a nod of acknowledgement. She hugs her daughter all the tighter for a moment, then murmurs quietly, "It'll be alright, Madison. A little bit at a time. But tonight... Let your friends distract you, if that's what you need. I'll see you tomorrow." She kisses the girl on her forehead, repeating, "I love you," before she extricates herself from Madison's arms and sends her back to her friends.
    "I'm trusting you," she says to the Titans a bit flatly.
    There's a brief hesitation before she'll turn to go - still shedding some of Terry's glitter. It feels strange to leave without her daughter, given what she'd learned about the end of the school trip, from some desperate phone calls on her way over to the Tower - but it's important to know when //not// to push your teenage daughter.