13009/Dim Sum

Dim Sum
Date of Scene:	09 October 2022
Location:	Dawn Granger's Room, Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	Hank and Dawn discuss just what it means to be them.
Cast of Characters:	Dawn Granger, Hank Hall

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Dawn Granger has posed:
    After a tiring flight from London, the prospect of a shower was all too appealing for Dawn. Regardless of if she really needed it (the plane hadn't been *that* crowded), it afforded her the chance to freshen up as well as to relax--being home felt so much better than she'd even anticipated. While it took a while to wash all of the conditioner out of her hair, she did her best to hurry since she didn't want to keep Hank awkwardly waiting. He hadn't exactly mentioned how or what he was getting foodwise, which meant she had no timeframe for how long he'd take.
    Emerging from the bathroom dressed in yoga pants and long oversized shirt that hangs off of one shoulder, she looks the epitome of comfortable at this point. First, she opens the door to her room in the Titans Tower a crack--that way, when Hank arrives he won't have to awkwardly knock and wait for her to get the door. Next, she combs her fingers through her hair to untangle it as she starts to braid it while looking around her room. Her suitcase sat at the floor of her bed and she made a mental note to work on that next if Hank hadn't arrived with food before she finished braiding her hair.

Hank Hall has posed:
    The incredible weight of everything that came off of Hank's shoulders by the mere presence of Dawn allowed him to actually relax for the first time since...well, since she left. After bringing her upstairs - sure, he could have left her to carry her own bag to the elevator and out, but why? - he had nearly skipped back downstairs to set about in search of food. Skipped might be an exaggeration, but there was a definite spring in his step that no doubt would have been called out if he had happened by any of their fellow Titans on the way. Fortune smiled upon him, though, as he escaped the Tower without anyone's notice.
    He made a few quick thoughts about where to go, and his initial thought was for Indian, but of course, no doubt Dawn had had better Indian in London than he could find. So by the time Dawn was out of her shower and preparing to redo her braid, Hank came knocking at that cracked door with a few bags full of Chinese take out. Dumplings, egg rolls, krab rangoon, and various other no mess food items. He certainly did not feel like doing any plates, and if so much as a single piece of rice fell on Dawn's floor...

Dawn Granger has posed:
    Dawn's attention is drawn to the expected knock, smile broadening at both Hank and the food. "That smells so good," she looks blissfully at the bags in his hand. "It hadn't occurred to me until just now that I haven't eaten since..." She trails off, clearly trying to figure out exactly what time it would be thanks to the complications that were time zones and flying across the ocean. "... well, over eight hours. I hadn't realized I was this hungry." They had served a 'meal' on the flight, but she'd waved it off in favor of a nap, which left her well-rested but in need of food.
    Her fingers don't waver from her braid as she continues, strand over strand, hardly needing to look at it as she moves towards the couch and nods slightly towards the coffee table. "Thank you so much for getting food."

Hank Hall has posed:
    "Time flies when you're stuck in a tin can over the Atlantic, right?" Hank steps inside carrying the bags, the door falling closed behind him as he steps in. He heads over towards the couch and sets the bags down on the coffee table, carefully taking each of the containers out of the bags and laying them side by side. There is a bit of a grin as he sets some down diagonally, and the others straight away, before he goes to retrieve a set of chopsticks.
    "No problem. I've gotta eat too sometimes, you know." He finds his own spot on the couch and pulls out two bottles of water, setting one in front of each of them, before taking up a set of chopsticks. His eyes go to Dawn's attention to her braid, and then to his chopsticks, and then to the food. "Uh, what do you want first?"

Dawn Granger has posed:
    The problem with having a lot of hair is that when you braid it, there's a lot involved. Thankfully, the wide plait isn't anything small or intricate and so at least Dawn's making good time in her braiding process. It does mean, however, that she's not done by the time she sinks down onto the couch, tucking one leg up under her as she sits, angling towards him while she carefully works. Her eyes go from the food, to Hank's chopsticks, then her braid before looking quickly back towards the food. "Surprise me?" She smiles sheepishly, doing her best to work on her braid the slightest bit faster.

Hank Hall has posed:
    Turning slightly to stretch his long legs out past the coffee table, Hank leans a bit back against the couch, one arm running along the side as the other forms practiced perfect pinchers of the chopsticks. "Dangerous territory there, Dawn," replies Hank with a grin before he leans forward, finding a steamed pork dumpling of modest size. He brings it over towards her mouth with seemingly practiced ease. "I'm not going to make any airplane noises, though. That's where I draw the line."

Dawn Granger has posed:
    Dawn pauses in her braiding to laugh, raising an eyebrow at him. "Thankfully I'm all done with airplane noises," she grins. "And I'd love to not be near them for quite a while again, thank you very much." She does seem impressed by his skill with the chopstick use, but instead of asking about it like she seemed about to--she saves that for after she actually goes to take a bite since that was the intended purpose of the dumpling-laden chopsticks in the first place.

Hank Hall has posed:
"I'd love for you to not be near one anytime soon, too," echoes Hank, returning her grin. He sighs contentedly to himself as he holds the dumpling for her, keeping it close by for when she wants to finish it off. He watches her chew and braid, a smile resting on his face as he allows silence to linger for a moment. Almost too long, before he offers commentary. "This isn't necessarily the best, but it is the closest and pretty good. If you want the best, you should let me take you out for dim sum one morning. There's a place a little ways across town, everything is made by this grandmother who came over from Shanghai."

Dawn Granger has posed:
    Dawn manages to keep from talking only because there's both the dumpling in her mouth and the rest of it still held nearby. She manages an amused sound, however, and doesn't speak until after she's both stolen the last bit of her dumpling and finished eating it. "You know, I think you've found a very skillful way of shutting me up," she notes, the braid becoming smaller at the thinner end of her hair. "Please tell me you met the grandmother by helping her cross a street because the image of that in my head right now is something I am just living for."
    She tugs the elastic band off her wrist, looping it around the end of the braid a few times to secure it so she isn't forcing Hank to feed her all night. "That does sound really nice, though. I've always loved dim sum."

Hank Hall has posed:
    There is a look on Hank's face at that assertion. Some comment busting at the seams to come out, a grin appearing and a mischievous twinkle in his eye. Whatever it is does not make it past his lips, and instead, he addresses the grandmother. "Her name is Xi Ban, and she is delightful, truly." Hank smiles. "And no, I did not help her cross the street, but yes, I have helped her a few times carry in some vegetables that arrived when her grandson was off doing god knows what." He shrugs. "I'm sure she will be happy to finally meet you, though."
    His eyes follow the movement of her hand at the braid, and he pulls the chopsticks back sensing that his need to serve is rapidly coming to an end. He uses the moment to retrieve a krab rangoon for himself. "See, there's something I didn't know about you until just now. And so do I!" He leans over to give her a gentle shoulder nudge.

Dawn Granger has posed:
    "You told a delightful grandmother who makes dim sum about *me*?" Dawn's voice is a mix of both amusement and a squeak of surprise. "Next you'll be telling me you speak to her in Cantonese," she says, then suddenly leans forward a bit because it's clear that she actually can't figure out the potential truth behind that. "Seems we're certainly learning about each other now. Shared love of dim sum." As she reaches to retrieve an eggroll, she side-eyes him with curiousity, just daring him to shock her.

Hank Hall has posed:
    There is a brief look of confusion on Hank's face as Dawn asks that question. "Uh, I mean, she was asking things, and..." Clearly he gave away more than was intended with that statement, and his cheeks flush slightly. "And no, of course not," replies Hank. "She doesn't speak Cantonese, so I have to use Mandarin with her." Another wink, and that same enigmatic smile appears. Briefly, at least, before his mouth is taken over by the consumption of a dumpling. He does not take the time to bite into it, popping the entirety of it into his mouth. He arches an eyebrow at the side-eye, but just grins all the more broadly.

Dawn Granger has posed:
    There's a long moment where Dawn eyes him, squinting as if trying to determine if his joke about Cantonese was a joke or if his clever use of chopsticks indicated he really spent a lot of time eating dim sum. After a moment, she can't hide a laugh, unable to keep the side-eye up. She nudges him playfully with her shoulder. "I'm honored to be talked about so highly, as you must have said something good if she wants to meet me," she says before taking a bite of her eggroll.

Hank Hall has posed:
    Her laugh breaks his smile even broader, and Hank nods, leaning over to poke around with his chopsticks in search of the perfectly shaped krab rangoon. "Uh, if you must know..." He picks it up and leans back, looking over at her. "I'd go there pretty often, sometimes with a couple of other guys on the force, sometimes just by myself. She's a grandmother, so she'd keep asking me why I never brought a girl there with me." He shrugs and pops the rangoon into his mouth. As if somehow that was the end of the story.

Dawn Granger has posed:
    "Well, I'm certainly going to have to meet her then," Dawn says with a laugh. "It must be good if you go for both the company as well as the food. Being a regular at a restaurant says a lot about a person." She shrugs a shoulder, glancing over at him as soon as he's got his mouth full. "So why *haven't* you brought a girl there?" She casually tosses the rest of her eggroll into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. He's got the entire timeframe of a rangoon to figure out how to answer that.

Hank Hall has posed:
    Hank would have had the entirety of rangoon chewing to answer if he did not start to half-choke when Dawn pounces on the question. He recovers quickly, and does manage to chew and then swallow, but he reaches for the bottle of water first, taking a few long swallows as he watches Dawn out of the corner of his eye. "Uh," is his first response, after putting the bottle of water down. Then he shrugs. "Couldn't find one that liked dim sum?" he ventures. Will she let him get away with that half-assed answer? He certainly seems hopeful of that as he takes another long swallow of the water.

Dawn Granger has posed:
    Dawn manages not to laugh, though a smile tugs at her lips as he finally states his answer. Or almost lack thereof. "Too bad you don't know anyone who likes dim sum," she says with a tone of agreement, nodding in his direction as she pinches a rangoon of her own between her chopsticks. "No idea where you'd find anyone with good taste in this city." She proceeds to pop the rangoon into her mouth as she looks far too amused.

Hank Hall has posed:
    Managing a smirk in response, Hank reaches out to stab at an eggroll, impaling it with one of his chopsticks. "I _already_ told you about it and asked you to let me take you out." he replies indignantly. "Although now I am reconsidering it because I don't know what kind of questions you are going to pepper the poor woman with." He eyes Dawn seriously as he brings the egg-roll up towards his mouth. "Maybe I'll go first and warn her before I take you there." He chomps half of the egg roll, eyes on Dawn with a bit of a challenge to them.

Dawn Granger has posed:
    Challenge accepted. Dawn eyes him back playfully, entirely unable to hide her grin. Not with this scenario. "Oh, I'm pretty sure you must have already warned her about me because she's going to 'finally' get to meet me," she says, chopsticks reaching for another dumpling. "I'm not sure what questions you're afraid I'll ask her now. For all you know, *I* might know Cantonese or Mandarin. Wouldn't that make for an interesting conversation?"

Hank Hall has posed:
    Oh, it's on. Hank narrows his eyes as he regards Dawn. "You might. But I'll bet you don't." He turns the chopstick around to take the other half of the egg roll, his squinty peer at her maintaining while he chews at it. "And maybe you'll just embarrass yourself if you start harassing a poor old lady. You ever think of that?" He leans over and places the chopsticks down on the table before straightening. That peering gaze still there.

Dawn Granger has posed:
    There's no way this isn't some kind of competition now. Dawn pops the entire dumpling in her mouth, setting her chopsticks down on the table as she chews, folding her arms across her chest until she's done with the dumpling. "It's funny what a multi-cultural place London is, the type of people and languages you run across..." She raises an eyebrow in his direction. "Hank, do I look like the kind of person who would harass a poor old lady?" She's trying not to laugh at this point.

Hank Hall has posed:
    Hank's eyes narrow even more. "Yes. Naturally." He returns the arched eyebrow. "No, but you _do_ look the kind of person who would harass a nice guy who fed you dumplings because you thought it would amuse you to do so." There is barely any sense of solemnity to his voice, clearly a tease. He nods, and then leans over towards her, and intones a phrase in Mandarin. "Thank you, these dumplings are tasty." The pronunciation is poorly accented, but it is correctly said. He watches Dawn to see if there is recognition by her of the phrase.

Dawn Granger has posed:
    It doesn't matter if he got the phrase correctly or not, Dawn certainly has lost this fight. He could have said anything and she'd have looked impressed. She does, however, look a bit sheepish. "So I only know a bit of French and I don't think Xi Ban speaks that," she pushes her chopsticks away from her on the table in defeat. "I promise I'll never harass anyone feeding me dumplings again. I've turned over a new leaf."

Hank Hall has posed:
    The look of smug satisfaction on Hank's face says it all. He has won, and he rejoices in his victory as Dawn relents and admits to her bluff. Then she looks sheepish. And Hank feels the taint of the victory. The chopsticks are pushed away. He realizes she is done. And he realizes that the pout is likely an act. If it is, it's an effective one. And she will likely end up winning after all.
    "She kept asking, and I eventually told her that I kept waiting for you to come back so I could bring you." He could have saved some trouble and admitted that from the start. But sometimes the journey is worth it. He looks at Dawn, waiting to see how she responds to _that_ admission.

Dawn Granger has posed:
    "Ahh," Dawn replies, glancing back over at him. "So you don't take just *anyone* to dim sum," she glances over at him, then leans over towards the table to get another eggroll. It's mostly to have something as a distraction rather than to really have more to eat. "So did she ask about me every time you showed up, then, and you had to tell her all about me just to appease her into thinking I actually existed?" She takes a bite of her eggroll, leaning her shoulder against the back of the couch as she watches him.

Hank Hall has posed:
    Hank starts to squirm just like he did when Xi Ban would interrogate him. "She wouldn't stop until I showed her a photo of you." Now it is his turn to look sheepish. "And then she would ask me every time when you were going to come." His voice is a little quiet, not quite the same brash tone he usually employs. "Every time, I would say I didn't know. And every time she would tell me that I should find out. And every time I would shrug and say it wasn't my call." He reaches out to pick up his chop sticks without taking his eyes from Dawn. "I, uh. Didn't realize that it could have been my call. At the time." He starts whirling the chopsticks in his fingers. "She'll be very surprised. She probably assumed I just made you up to get her to leave me alone."

Dawn Granger has posed:
    Dawn can't help but smile. "You'd better have said nice things about me," she teases, mostly to cover up what might be some fluster there. She finishes the eggroll, her eyes watching him in his chopstick twirling. "All you had to do was invite me to dim sum. Which you have, now that you've discovered the secret that I like it and apparently really crave it after long flights."

Hank Hall has posed:
    "Only the nicest." Hank stops swirling the chopsticks and sets them down on the coffee table. The nervous energy is still there, although it seems to be dissipating a little bit. "She was a strong advocate on your behalf." He chuckles for a moment, reaching out to reclaim the water bottle and take another drink. "And I am not sure how much of that is a secret. Dim sum is just _good_, so liking it should be assumed, right? Aren't you the one more cultured than me anyway?" He takes another swig before setting it back down, and then he just looks at Dawn. Quietly.

Dawn Granger has posed:
    "Cultured depends on who you're asking," Dawn replies. "You have a regular restraunt you frequent, you're on good terms with the woman who makes all that food by hand, she knows you by name and even teases you about why you don't take any nice young ladies out to eat with you." She shrugs a shoulder. "That sounds very cultured to me. You're embracing culture right there." After a moment, she gives him a kind look. "You're too hard on yourself."

Hank Hall has posed:
    Once again, it is Hank's turn to listen, and he nods in agreement with Dawn at the end. "You're right, of course. I am that, and..." He takes a deep breath. "I want to bring you there. I want her to meet you, I want you to see what my life is like here, to introduce you to the things that I enjoy, to experience them _with_ you, because that will just add to it." He pokes at one of the chopsticks absently. "I don't know what it felt like you for you, but in some ways as I was doing those things, it felt like I was only halfway doing them, or only half of me was, and..." He looks back up at her. "It's a lot to process, I get that. But that was just the way I felt."

Dawn Granger has posed:
    "It was a little empty," Dawn admits after a moment. "I mean, that's how it felt. I'm not the best at figuring out how the connection between Hawk and Dove fully works, but I do know that there's something to it. You know when you've had a headache for so long you've forgotten you have it because you're used to it hurting and then when it goes away you realize what pain-free actually feels like? It kind of felt like that, but I didn't realize I had a headache the entire time I was abroad." She pauses. "Metaphorically speaking."
    She rests against the back of the couch, though she remains watching him. "I'd like to see all of the things you have here. We're in each others' lives, for whatever that means, and I'd honestly like to meet your unofficial dim sum grandmother. I promise I'll be on my best behavior. I'm nothing if not diplomatic."
    There's a long pause before she speaks again. "You said things were not fine here." They hadn't gotten into it so much in the car, but 'not fine' felt like a very loaded statement that she hadn't found the bottom of yet.

Hank Hall has posed:
Nodding slowly, Hank listens as Dawn explains how it feels for her. "Makes sense, totally. I mean, it's different for me, I think, because of course..." He trails off for a moment.
    He smiles at the reference and nods. "I think my dim sum grandmother would be very happy to meet you. And would totally approve. You wouldn't have to impress her, but I am sure that you will." He seems to think that maybe they have skirted the subject, but then Dawn comes back to it. Loose threads never last when she is around.
    "Let's just say that you had a headache, and couldn't concentrate. I..." He takes a breath. "I couldn't stay calm. Without you around, I just felt always this nervousness, anxiety, this..." He looks at her. "You know how, before we had a danger sense, you might feel mildly alarmed if something happened, and you'd feel that surge of adrenaline kick in. And maybe it would fade away, or if something would happen, you'd need to exorcise it?" He watches for Dawn's reaction. "That was me. All the time." He pauses. "Or worse."

Dawn Granger has posed:
    Dawn's expression is concerned. Not just for the fact that he felt that, but the fact that it had been the entire time she'd been away. It's not a look of someone mentally lashing themselves for causing someone pain, but one of someone genuinely just wanting to be sure that things *have* gotten better. "If anything like that happens again, I want you to call me, alright? I'm not planning on hopping on any flights but that's something serious. That's also a big thing we might need to figure out. Is this something that will happen often? What's the threshold of something like that, or if we're separated for some reason and..." She trails off. "Sorry, I overthink when I worry. Which, as it turns out, seems to be all the time."

Hank Hall has posed:
    "Dawn, I don't know that you can overthink this, but, I've been thinking a lot about it, and..." Hank sighs. "Are you worrying right now?" he asks. "I mean, obviously, rationally, about this thing, yes. But I mean..." He shifts a bit on the couch, leaning more towards her, his voice lowering. "Do you feel an oppressive urge to order everything, _think_ everything, right now? Is that what you were feeling in London, but unable to recognize?" He tilts his head, studying her. "I'm just grasping at straws here, I don't really know, but I'm comparing what you were saying to what I was feeling." He takes a long, steadying breath, and stops himself. "Maybe I should go, let you rest a bit. You're probably just tired from your flight..."

Dawn Granger has posed:
    "No, Hank, please don't leave," Dawn shakes her head. "It... was a little more than jetlag." She bites on her lower lip. "It wasn't all great either. I thought it was jetlag, stress, being off my game, I thought that because I was there for family reasons that *that* was the reason for all of it. You're right, though. It was more of a migraine than just a headache. It felt like I couldn't put anything where it was supposed to be, like I was so caught off-guard and unable to get my footing, I didn't feel like I was prepared for anything even when I thought I was."
    She exhales a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "I'm sorry, you were being really honest with me and I just didn't elaborate on what it felt like. I'm not always right, Hank."

Hank Hall has posed:
    If Dawn thought her comments would bring relief to Hank, she was definitely not right. As she describes it she can watch his face fall, as he experiences the same feelings that she did as he talked earlier about not being fine. "But...you said everything was fine?" Then he laughs, a loud, boisterous laugh, shaking his head. "Same thing I said, of course." He tries to dial it back, but he cannot help but laugh. "Dawn, we were trying to protect each other, because that's what friends do, but we were protecting each other by staying away which was exactly the cause of the..." He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. He does not want to laugh, lest she think he is laughing at her. He is not. But at their situation. He opens his eyes to try to find Dawn's. "I spent the entire time here worried about how I could find a way to endure this without you, so I didn't burden you, and it never occurred to me for a moment that you were having to do the same thing."

Dawn Granger has posed:
    That does get a small fraction of a smile from Dawn as she looks back at him. "I'm sorry, I'm really not used to the being-a-pair thing, so I kind of wrote it off as me being high-strung and stressed," she admits. "I didn't really have any idea until you said something that it was Hawk and Dove. At least, that's when it made sense at least." She lets out another breath, her smile returning. "Right, so how about we make a deal to look out for each other. You look out for me, I look out for you, and we trust the other one and don't lock up something because we're both worried about each other." She pauses, then adds, "Not just about Hawk and Dove things. I hope you know I'd have your back too."

Hank Hall has posed:
    "Yeah, I mean, it's not anything I was used to either, to be honest," offers Hank. "If it was, I'd have at least warned you, but Don and I..." He sighs. "He never went anywhere, so we never saw this side of things, so I can't tell you if it's a Hawk and Dove thing or a Hank and Dawn thing, and that's the most fucked up part because I don't how much of what I feel for you is Hank for Dawn and how much is Hawk for Dove, and I just want to be fair to you and..." He stops himself again, and tries to pull it together. And he does, after a moment. "I know you'd have my back. And I'd have yours. Regardless of any orders from the Lords of Chaos and Order." He takes another deep breath. "I'm sorry that you got dragged into this with me, Dawn."

Dawn Granger has posed:
    "I'm not," Dawn says, cracking a smile. "It's a little weird, I won't say it's not. It's not the life course I expected myself to be on by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not sorry that I'm dragged into this with you, though. Ignoring the whole mystical connection, Lords of Chaos and Order aside, I like being around you. I kind of feel like you're pulling me back out of my head when I'm lost in it." She moves to nudge him with her shoulder. "That's a Hank and Dawn thing."

Hank Hall has posed:
Once again, she pulls him out of the spiral. Except this time, she being right of course, it is not Dove pulling Hawk out. "Dawn..." He reaches out to take her hand, giving it a squeeze. "I like being around you too, and when I think about you, it's not Dove, it's not us being out fighting crime, it's moments like this. But..." There is still a moment of uncertainty. "Can we trust it? I mean...if it is not real, if it's because of them, that matters, right?" He searches her eyes for some kind of answer.

Dawn Granger has posed:
    "I can't say I have a solid answer for that," Dawn admits. "I wish I had all the answers for all of this and I could explain it to you. I want to say that the lines don't blur somewhere and that Hawk and Dove don't influence us, but I don't know that answer. I do know, though, that you're someone who needs a person to listen to them, to pull you back when you need a hand. You lost someone close to you. Dove or not, that's still the kind of thing I'd feel for. Think you'd buy me dim sum even if I wasn't Dove? Cause I think you would."
    She squeezes his hand. "We don't have to be just them. We both tried to give the other freedom from this."

Hank Hall has posed:
That earns another sharp laugh. "I'd do back flips to get someone like you to join me for dim sum, Dawn. I'm the one here sitting here wondering if you'd be joining me for it even if I wasn't Hawk." Hank smiles at her, and she can see that despite the comment, he is starting to settle down a bit. Starting to believe. "Maybe fate brought us together for a reason, I don't know." He returns the squeeze of her hand, and sighs deeply.
    "I want to be Hank and Dawn. Even if Hank and Dawn can't go far away from each other because of the rest of it, I'd like to think that..." He sighs. "I missed Dawn. Not Dove." That much, at least, is clear, and true.

Dawn Granger has posed:
    Dawn doesn't bother to laugh away the fluster, instead offering him a smile when he mentions missing her. "I think we're good around each other as people," she says. "All those bad feelings we had just told us we couldn't be too far apart. If we didn't appreciate each other as people, we wouldn't be eating dinner and talking. Pretty sure that's not a requirement to be Hawk and Dove, although I'd appreciate it if there was a guidebook that I got a copy."
    She keeps his hand, squeezing it again. "Mystical forces didn't ask you to pick me up from the airport, that was all me. I missed you too. I know we didn't meet under the best of circumstances and that it was incredibly complicated because of your brother, but I do like being around you, Hank. I'd let you buy me dim sum anytime."

Hank Hall has posed:
    "Yeah, no, they ain't so good about handing out lessons." Hank laughs. "All I've got is a bit of trial by error learning, and clearly there are some unexplored areas." He smiles, giving her hand a squeeze, nodding finally in agreement with her overall sentiment. "Let's be Hank and Dawn. For a while, anyway. And see where that takes us."
    He shifts a bit, turning so he can lean a bit more comfortably against her side. "Clearly, it takes us to destroying Chinese take-out." He laughs and nods again. "Xi Ban won't know what hit her."

Dawn Granger has posed:
    Dawn leans against him, letting out a laugh. "I'm sure that Xi Ban will be very appreciative for the extra mouth to feed, even if I don't consume the amount of calories that Caitlin does." She glances over at him. "Thank you for wanting to take me around and show me who Hank is, as a person. Pretty sure you know the streets of this city way better than I do and I'd enjoy seeing things from your perspective."

Hank Hall has posed:
"She'll love it. Just guard your cheeks. Her fingers are strong from years of dumpling making." Hank chuckles, letting himself rest against her side, his fingers still entwined. "Thank you for wanting to learn who Hank is. And sharing who Dawn is." He leans his head back a bit against the couch so he can see her face more in profile. "I'm looking forward to seeing how your perspective sees the city, too." He sighs contentedly for a moment. Another squeeze of her hand. "I'm glad I have you, Dawn."

Dawn Granger has posed:
    "I'll make sure not to let my cheeks get in pinching range," Dawn assures him, tipping her head so she can look at him as they sit there. "Somehow I think seeing your view of the city is going to be a lot more exciting than mine," she laughs, then smiles at him. "I was going to say 'If I had to be Dove to any Hawk, I'm glad it's yours' but I realized that I think that puts too much pressure on the Lords of Order and Chaos, so I'm just going to echo your sentiment and tell you that I'm glad I have you too."

Hank Hall has posed:
Hank's body slowly relaxes as the last bit of tension seems to drain out, and he smiles warmly back at Dawn. "Hey, even those jerks get things right from time to time, right." His fingers squeeze hers. "I should let you get some rest. You've had a long flight, I got you fed, but it has to be some ridiculous time for you right now."

Dawn Granger has posed:
    "You have a very good point. I'm home, showered, fed, and relaxed," Dawn replies with a small yawn. "You didn't even need to read me the phone book. Helps that you're comfortable." She gives his hand a final squeeze before she moves to release it. "I think I'll even leave unpacking until I wake up," she decides before she looks at him. "I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

Hank Hall has posed:
"Sounds good." Hank smiles. "And trust me, you don't want to hear me read the phone book. It wouldn't be anywhere near as accurate or soothing." He lets go of her hand and pats her gently on the leg as he slowly rolls up from the couch and stands, stretching out a bit. "I can clean up all this for you if you want, set it out in there where the locusts will descend upon it in short order." He smiles, starting to close up the containers. "And yeah get some rest, and then just come and knock on my door. I'll be there."

Dawn Granger has posed:
"I am sure someone's stomach will appreciate the leftovers," Dawn agrees. "I appreciate taking care of that for me." Him cleaning up does not go unnoticed. "I'll come find you tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I said thank you for the ride at least once already, but I'm tired enough at this point that I'm going to say it again tomorrow just to be sure."

Hank Hall has posed:
    Carrying the bags to the door, Hank sends a wink back. "That'll never get old, Dawn." He smiles. "Get some sleep." And with that, he slips out the door.

    And breathes easier than he has in months as he carries the food out to the common area.