8649/An Old Bird Returns to the Nest

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An Old Bird Returns to the Nest
Date of Scene: 12 November 2021
Location: Exterior - Titan's Tower
Synopsis: Hank Hall returns to Titans Tower after four years absences. Tensions rise but, for the moment, everything seems to not be too destructive. Rough waters but not beyond hope.
Cast of Characters: Hank Hall, Mary Bromfield, Donna Troy, Kian, Caitlin Fairchild, Kaida Connolly, Dawn Granger, Nadia Pym-van Dyne, Victor Stone




Hank Hall has posed:
    Titans Tower, a symbol of peace and freedom in the city of Metropolis, stands gleaming in the rays of the setting sun. Times like this makes the scene all the more poetic. But today, that poetic silence is disturbed by the disgruntled sceam outside the main entrance to the building.

    "HEY!" shouts a man out front. He isn't the tallest man, but his volume and the sheer anger pouring from him (an almost palpable thing) makes up for any shortness in stature he might have (though, truth be told, there are only a few Titans who could look him in the eye without looking up.)

    "I'M HERE. SO WHAT IS IT? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!" he bellows to the building. There is a slight slur in his words, that might give the indication that he is inebriated. And that indication is quite correct. "I GET IT! I LEFT? ARE YOU EVER GOING TO STOP PUNISHING ME FOR IT?! EVER?!"

Mary Bromfield has posed:
"Uhmmm...sir?"

The young woman behind Hank with the METROPOLIS UNIVERSITY sweatshirt (last year's design) has a voice that is quiet, calm, and polite, but curious. "Hi...I'm Mary. Is there something I can help you with?"

Donna Troy has posed:
    Hank Hall is well known to the tower systems. As soon as Hank comes in range, his presence is noted by the computer, but then he's supposed to be there so no alert is sounded. Were anyone to check their T-Coms to see who was at home during that brief moment before his arrival in the vicinity of the tower and his declaration to the world that he had arrived, they would be rather surprised to know that Hawk was registered as being there.

    It makes it easy to confirm just what's happening when the shouting starts though. And it's the reason why Donna's voice chimes over Dawn's T-Com almost straight away. "Dove, that's Hawk. We better go down and talk to him. Best if you're not first on the scene though. Let us try to talk him down a bit before we go full introductions, okay?"

    It's ironic, really. Had the Titans done a yearbook in the early days, Donna and Hank would probably have tied for 'Titan most likely to solve a problem by punching it', though Donna had always been a lot more considered in her punching of problems, and punched with enthusiasm rather than anger. There had been arguments in the past because of that - Donna had always insisted to Hank that violence should be very much controlled. Yet it was Don, not Donna, who had ever been able to be convincing to Hank. Now there's a new Dove, it should be Dawn, not Donna, trying to keep Hank calm and collected. But Donna's going to give it another go anyway, because Hank and Dawn have never met. Don wasn't just Dove, Don was Hank's brother.

    Donna makes her way down from the top of the tower by the fastest route possible, landing with a thump just a few feet away from where Hank stands, and for a few moments all she can do is look at the man she hasn't seen since 2017, the Titan who stopped talking to the other Titans. Both of them have changed a little in the intervening years, and yet... they are both still the same people. People who for five years fought together and were close as family.

    Of course in any family, including the Titans, there's inevitably a certain amount of anger and shouting.

    "Hank," she says calmly. "It has been a while." It has. Over four years since they saw each other. A year and a half ago, not long after Donna had returned from Themyscira, she'd stood at his front door trying to talk things over with him, but he'd never answered. She never knew if he was on the other side listening or if he wasn't even at home. There's no doubt he's here now though.

    Donna holds a hand out to Mary, a warning 'stand back' gesture. "It's okay Mary. We know him. He... used to live here."

Kian has posed:
    Kian is, as usual, flitting around over the roof, simply exulting in the sheer joy of flight.
    At least he is until an unexpected voice interrupts him, and he dives down towards ground level at breakneck speed, pulling up from the ground only at the last minute.  "I... haf seen you before," the little birdman says, canting his head to the side curiously and dropping to a landing near Donna.  "I haf been tol' you haf left.  Are you now back?"
    He spreads and re-folds his wings, and glances up at Donna.  "What iss it wit' Eart' people takin' the names of birds when they do not haf wings?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Borrowing a ride down is Caitlin. A multi-story drop isn't going to hurt her; it's not going to even be an inconvenience. She freefalls with one hand on Donna's shoulder and pushes off about thirty feet up, landing a half-second behind Donna with a noticeably louder *THUD*. At least she doesn't shatter the concrete underfoot.

Donna hasn't changed greatly, but Caitlin's quite a bit different from the last time she saw Hank. More at ease in her own skin. Standing taller. It's clearly an off-duty day; she's in grey leggings, blue Keds, and a well-loved pink hoodie that mostly says 'Columbia' in faded white letters.

Donna hails him first, and Caitlin reflexively steeples her fingers over her nose and mouth. "Hank," is all she whispers. Fingers move from her lips and curl under her chin with worried agitation, but she summons a forlorn smile for him all the same.

As others show up, Caitlin gives a subtle but emphatic gesture: 'stand down'.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
"An alert!" Kaida states as she looks over at the screen of the large device beside her bed. Her room, if it can be called that, is something far different than everyone else's. Her room, which was normal size as that is all they have, is something of a small building in to itself. Literaly. Over time Kaida has made it somewhat inhospitable to big people except in a small greeting area where she can have a couple of big people sit down. Otherwise there's plastic crates EVERYWHERE. All with various walls put up.

She has not quite furnished everything but she's working on making her own glorious stack city with training area, resting area, a large movie theater (well, the tv is only 44 inches but that's huge for her!) and onward. The alert on the com has her attention.

Within moments she is on the roof, looking down at the yelling man. She stares at him from a distance, her ears twitching a moment before she simply leaps from the roof. Moments later, she lands on the ground in a three point stance super hero landing between Donna and this man she's not entirely familiar with and she holds a hand back to Donna and eyes Hank.

"And just who disturbs my rest?!" She says menacingly. Well. Sorta menacingly. She's six inches tall and weighs two pounds. Few are menaced. At least not at first.

Dawn Granger has posed:
Cosplay got a lot simpler when Game of Thrones came out. White hair, braid. Not that Dawn was dressing up for anything like that right now but prior to the show she never wore her hair in a single plaited braid. Now it had become a bit of a main stay for her. She is just finishing up the braid when she hears shouting outside the tower.

'HEY!' certainly gets attention. She reaches over to the tablet and taps the security feed. "Huh. Who's the bum," she questions to no one, observing the sight of what looks like an intoxicated man yelling at the tower.

The T-comm sitting on the desk buzzes and she picks it up and puts it in to her ear. The words she hears in Donna's voice make her double take and she stares at the security feed more intently. This is Hawk? No... that can't be right. This is the guy she has been searching for? just randomly wandering back to the tower after all these years.

"You must be kidding me," she says and rises. Unlike many of the Titans she can't simply fly down there or drop down there. Not until she actually senses danger - and as yelly as the guy is, there's no danger here. Her hackles aren't raised and she is not going to summon Dove just by willing it so.

Donna gets her wish, because Dawn has to take the elevator down. Jeans, sneakers, and a sky blue t-shirt. She stuffs her hands in to her pockets and waits for the elevator to descend. Her mind is roiling though.. what is she even meant to say to this guy:

'Hey, I'm the new Dove, sorry about your brother, let's go have coffee and talk?' She glances at her distorted reflection in the metal of the elevator doors and gives herself a small disapproving look. How is it this situation is getting her right in the guts when she's so used to being cool calm and collected.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Had the Waspette been in the tower labs working on something, it is likely nothing short of another spaceship crashing into the tower would have gotten her attention. However as luck would have it she was instead in the common room refueling her brain with that classic Titan staple, pizza. Lately she seems to have gotten much better at actually remembering to eat.

Bio-synthetic wings extend from a metal decal on Nadia's back as she flutters out of one of the tower windows and down towards the scene below, though she stops still a ways up in the air watching as she hovers there, wings buzzing. "What's going on out here?"

Victor Stone has posed:
    While there might not be a /general/ alert in Titans Tower, there's a /specific/ alert that Vic set up all on his own for if Hank's com ever came back into range. It was really meant to be 'in case we ran into him in trouble out in the field,' which is why Vic peers at it in disbelief for a long moment. He wasn't expecting Hank to just... show up back at the Tower.

    About thirty seconds of staring, and then he's taking the flight elevator down after the others, bursts out the door, to find people all facing Hank down while he's screaming. And it's a good thing, too, because he doesn't look as happy or calm as one might expect. He stops a little ways behind Donna and Caitlin, breathing slowly, trying to sort out the tangle of emotions he's been ignoring for years, and trying equally hard not to glare at the wayward Titan.

Hank Hall has posed:
    Hank turns first at Mary's calm and courteous question, his face is a mask of pain and anger. He is about ready to give the young woman a piece of his mind but then Donna and Cait are there and they get the piece instead. "It has... hasn't it?" Hank replies, the acid in his sarcasm is plain as his bloodshot eyes dart between the two women. "And it would've stayed that way if not for...." He briengs a hand to his head, it's violently shaking with a tremor bred from stress. "It. Won't. Stop. It's in my head and it just. Won't. Stop!" The last is shouted again.

    Kian and Kaida are both given a glance, new faces that he doesn't know. Could new faces help stop the constant prodding in his mind. Probably not. Victor's appearance is noted, Cyborg is hard to hide even when in a crowd. They had been friends. Close even. But his brain isn't a machine and Cyborg's expertise had always been in the components and pieces of robotics. "I just want it to stop... Don's *dead.* Dove is *dead.* I buried my twin brother, the other half of my *soul* and this damn thing..." he pulls at his short hair. "It won't stop bugging me about it. Like I care about reliving that pain day in and day out. It's like it take pleasure in *torturing me* about my time with you... with him."

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary looked quite confused. None of it was making any sense. This gentleman seemed to be having some sort of panic attack, or a mental meltdown. She looked to Donna, who acted as though the man was dangerous.

She opened her mouth to ask, then realized that someone was going to explain soon enough. She was sure of that.

And if it got violent, well...safety was just a word away.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
A range of emotions can be seen in Nadia's expression as she continues to hover five to ten meters above the scene. This person is clearly hurting. Part of her really wants to do something for him, maybe just give him a hug. But there is something about the whole thing that gives her pause, some of the things he is saying, the erratic even mentally unstable seeming behavior, and the fact that the others, the older Titans, seem to /know/ him.

So for now she just continues to hover above in case there is something she can help with but leaves engaging this man to the others.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Hank... Hank... " Donna steps forwards, her face a mask of concern. She's not wearing the armor that makes her Troia, but this is Donna. Good old reliable Donna, who at least seemed to /get/ that sometimes people just need a good punching.

    Self-righteous Donna who'd get on Hank's case for being too hard on people who /deserved/ it.

    "Kian, Kiada, Waspette... it's okay. This is Hawk. He's an old friend. He's one of us. Used to be part of the team. Things have been tough for him for a while, that's all." Her voice, that familiar, foreign-sounding voice, all smoke and honey, all calm and reason.

    "Losing Don was hard on all of us, Hank. He was your brother, but we all loved him like a brother too. I have never forgiven myself for not being there on that day. We don't feel it the same as you feel it, but we /understand/." She takes a step towards him, smiling a soft, sad smile. "None of us want to make you live through that any more than you have already. You left... you didn't return when the rest of us did. That was your choice. Nobody is judging you for that choice. At least... nobody here is. But..."

    Donna's eyes flit to Caitlin for a moment, a mute appeal for... what? Donna doesn't know hereself. Her eyes go back to Hank. "Listen... Hank. Don is dead. Dove is dead. But you aren't. And I don't know exactly what brought you here today, but I can guess. The Lords of Law and Chaos, right?" She glances towards the tower door. "They're not finished with you. And... they're not finished with Dove either, even if there's no Don any more."

    "Hank... don't get mad. But... they've appointed a new Dove." Donna lets out a slow sigh. "Don't get mad at her at least, okay? She didn't ask for it either."

Kian has posed:
    Kian's eyes widen.  He rifles his memory for his few times in the memorial hall, and then his eyes widen further.  "I am sorry for your loss.  An' I am also sorry that I cannot take the pain away," the small, hawk-winged alien offers -- for whatever that's worth to this obviously distraught man.  "I do not haf trainin' in doin' that."
    He steps aside, ready to move behind Donna if need be.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
A blink at that revelation and Kaida's ears fold back a little against her head. She frowns and shakes her head, "Losing someone is rough." She states and then looks to Donna as she speaks. She looks to Caitlin as if trying to figure out what is going on as Donna speaks about lords of Law and Chaos or whatever. She's not really privy to all that. She has read some stuff but she isn't really clear on all these otherwordly beings and their laws and chaos and blah blah.

Looking up to Kian, she nods in what he says before she simply leaps up and lands above the entrance on a tiny ledge. She eyes Hank from above before letting out a slow and pained sigh.

"Wish all these otherworldly being types and what not would get stuffed." She puts elbows to knees and plants her chin into her hands, "Always messin' with stuff they got no real stake in." She stares at Hank, frowning at his obvious pain.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin is moving while Donna's talking, with honest pain and empathy written plainly on her features. Donna's straightforward appeal is rational, logical, and reasonable. Caitlin takes a different tack; careful steps, parallel to Hank's movement without impeding them. When his agonized pacing moves laterally it puts him on a line with Caitlin's presence.

"Hank. Hank, please, it's ok," she whispers. Hands are out, palms uplifted, and she steps back a half pace to show she's not stopping him. Caitlin ventures a touch for Hank's shoulder, hesitates. "Please, Hank, just... a minute, let's just take -a minute-," she pleads. "It's been so long." She doesn't check his path but takes small steps to stay abreast of him, creating an impassible wall so he can't simply stomp away that direction. "We don't have to do all this right now, out here. Can-- will you come inside? Not for long. Just to chat," she promises. "A hot meal will help."

Victor Stone has posed:
    "You don't speak for everyone here, Donna," Victor says. He's folded his arms across his chest, "I'm sure as /hell/ judging him for /ignoring/ us all these years. Like we didn't matter. Like it didn't hurt the /rest/ of us, watching Don--" He snaps his mouth shut, knowing Donna will probably chastise him. And besides, he's supposed to be stepping up and trying to lead, right? Which means keeping some of this stuff private.

    They'd been friends. They'd bonded over sports and workouts. They'd had long talks about anger and injustice. Vic was /way/ less likely to punch someone than Hank or Donna, but he understood the rage that boils inside because the world is /wrong/ and ought to be better. How could he not, given the sheer fact of being a Black man from Detroit? Hank and Don had helped him form some of his own feelings on right and wrong, along with Donna and Dick and the others. They'd been a /family/. Before it had all fallen apart.

    Of course, it's not like Vic wasn't ignoring Gar's texts before he came back. Didn't have to be tracked down by /Terry/ of all people. So maybe he's being a bit of a hypocrite. So what?

    He clenches his jaw, then says, "Might be good to know if he's sticking around or just here to burn his uniform again." And immediately regrets the words. No, that's not helping either. Hank might appreciate getting it all out, but a Lord of Chaos is just going to keep pushing the matter.

Dawn Granger has posed:
As the elevator makes a pleasant little ding noise and the doors open, Dawn is somewhat shocked by what she sees. A mix of emotions painted over the faces of everyone. Even before she became Dove she was good at reading people. She walks out with confident, but false steps. She is not confident in the slightest. This is the guy? and the tension in the air is palpable.

Despite the words being thrown about - calming and not calming alike, the only feeling in her gut is a pit and not danger. Not yet. Her eyes fall on the grieving man and she can't help but feel sympathy for him. When she became Dove she knew she had taken the place of another. It wasn't until later she had learned about Don and how he had died. It was all a bit much and she used any excuse to leave.. not that she is ready to admit that to anyone in the tower yet.

But the draw to this place, and life's circumstances, has drawn her back here. And seemingly Hank too. For the brief moment, standing behind the crowd around Hank, she is lost for words. This reunion is emotional chaos, she can feel it in her bones.

Hank Hall has posed:
    Hank is trying to calm down. He really is. But... it's really not working. The compassion and sympathy from everyone around is nearing emotional claustrophobia for him. He tries to shake free of Cait's bracing position (but it's likely a futile thing.) "I don't want--"

    Victor's words bring him up short. He meets the man's dual-hued glare with one of his own. "Yeah. I fucked up, didn't I?" he says ascerbically to Cyborg. "My twin dies and I'm supposed to just hug it out, right? We got the L, but we can just move on to next week's opponent, right?" he bites. "Oh, wait. No we can't because you're partner is--"

    One of the things Donna says finally catches up to him. "What did you..." he whispers, all the anger flooding from him and being replaced with shock. "They replaced... No. That's not..."

    And there she is. The new Dove emerges from the Tower and Hank's eyes jerk to her against his own volition. He blinks. She's younger than Don would've been. But that's not entirely surprising. A woman. That is a little surprising. But the feeling there is the same as it was before he lost his other half. Even as the gentle calming effect washes toward him, he narrows his eyes at her. It's not a friendly look.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Oh, boy. That one word is looking better all the time. But the problem is, this is very delicate. No one's thrown a punch yet.

And suddenly becoming Mary Marvel...LOUDLY...is a show that things are expected to get worse...

So, keep calm. No one else has lost their head, so don't lose yours. Just look around, and...wow, is that a mouse?

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Vic..." Donna begins. But it's not the time. "...later." She gives a quick shake of her head, ridding herself of the annoyance before it could take a hold and show on her features. "Look," she says, as much to Vic as to Hank. "We all fucked up one way or the other. Every single one of us walked away, apart from Raven. It would be dumb to pretend that didn't happen, but it's just as dumb to be beating ourselves - or each other - up over it now. Okay? We move on, because that's what you /have/ to do. Get on with our lives."

    Had Hank got on with his life? The evidence points to no. It looks like he might not have much choice any more.

    Donna gives a little nod of approval to Mary, a subtle gesture for her eyes only to indicate she approves of Mary's restraint, and she steps ahead of Hank to intercept Dawn, while he's engaging with Caitlin's delaying tactics. She puts a friendly hand on Dawn's shoulder, a gesture to reassure the young woman as well as send a message to Hank.

    "This is /Dawn/," she says to Hank, intentionally lengthening the vowel sound to differentiate it as much as possible from the name 'Don'. "And before you say anything, use your brain. She didn't ask for any of this. None of this is her fault. If you have a problem with this, your problem is not with her, it's with the Lords of Law and Chaos, okay? Dawn is nice. She's a good person. And she's got something in common with you now. So maybe you'd like to come into the tower, take a seat, have something to eat like Caitlin suggested, maybe. Cait's an even better cook now than when you last had one of her meals, you know. And /talk/ things over with her. Okay?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
The mix of emotions playing across Nadia's features have by this point been replaced with rapt attention. She can't look away, there is just one twist and then another as the past of her friends collides headlong with current reality.

Part of her is still ready to intervene if necessary but as more and more of the story is revealed and she hangs on every word, there is a sympathy there too. Sympathy for both this clearly hurting individual and her hurting friends like Cyborg both and its one of those times Donna warned her about where there's no way to SCIENCE! things into a happy resolution.

Kian has posed:
    Kian... doesn't know what to make of all this.  Certainly extremes of emotion -- at least negative ones -- have always made him uncomfortable, and he slips behind Donna as unobtrusively as he can.
    And then just as unobtrusively back into the tower, where he heads to the monitors to watch them for a while.  That's the excuse he makes to get away from the angry man and the jangled emotions that he can almost taste, even without physical contact.
    Wings of a hawk, heart of a dove.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Almost immediately, Kaida's fur stands on end and her tail stiffens. She leaps from her ledge and races over to Victor's foot and gives him one swift kick right in the ankle!

It's not really all the effective and only by the sheer fact that she's pretty darn tough herself does she not hurt herself but she puts her hands on her hips all the same. Then she leaps up and points a finger at Vic while giving him the hardest of tiny glares.

Then she turns to watch Hank and Dawn before suddenly blinking and realizing something.

"Hey, I haven't met Dawn either!" She declares and races by before fighting can start toliteraly leap by Dawn's face and waves as she does, "Hi, Dawn, I'm Kaida!" And then she blinks and spins around and leaps by Hank's face, "Hi, Angry Hank, I'm Kaida!" And then she is landing. She's perfected the art of saying greetings rather quickly as she leaps by and also the art of not giving a crap if it's appropriate.

Either way, she then races back, leaping by Victor to give him another glare point as she goes by before going back up to her ledge. All of this happens rather fast, too. She's no speedster but she's a quick little ball of energy and very little in decorum.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Hank's a big guy. Always in the yearbook back row with Vic, Kori, and Caitlin. Not a lot of Titans can look him in the eye, for certain-- but Caitlin's one of them. When he narrows his eyes at Dawn, the redhead puts herself in his line of sight with a palm slightly upraised and facing his sternum. Not touching him, not bulling into his presence... just creating a significant barrier to overcome should he yield to a fit of blind anguish.

"Hank," she says, very softly. "She's new to this. You were new to this too, once. We're all... still finding a way. Can't go back. We have to go forward."

The hand drops, and lifts into a supplicant's gesture, empty palm in the air. She ventures a smile, seeking eye contact with Hank, but not clearing a path to Dawn behind her until he shows some signs of self-control. She tilts her head back at Donna behind her, validating the Donna's claims. "I could probably even come up with something real close to a reuben. Might have to fake it a little, but I promise to make you a proper one anytime you like. Just..." Shoulders twist, half-turning towards the doors to the Tower, and beyond. "Please? Can we all--" she looks mute appeal at Victor. Her eyes land on Dawn, but there are too many conflicting emotions there to process any of them independently. Back to Hank.

"Just ... bury the hatchet for the evening?"

Victor Stone has posed:
    "Fine," Vic spits, glaring right back at Kaida and then looking up at Donna and Caitlin. "Fine. Whatever. Everything's great." Everything is /not/ great. Clearly. "Welcome back, Hank. Hope you're staying this time." And he /does/ mean that. He does. But since everyone wants to play nice, pretend everything's fine...

    He looks to Dawn, actually. Expression softening, just a bit. "Good luck," he says. And he means that, too. Then he turns away, like he's just going to go back inside and let the others sort this out.

Dawn Granger has posed:
That look. At once she feels rejection from the man even as inside herself she feels what can only be described as.. anger? mixed with her own calm, forms in to indignation. He rejects her? no, she rejects him. Her arms fold under her chest. She's not going to take that from a stranger, even if it is Hank and he's clearly suffering. There are lines and she won't be pushed around.

And yet her face doesn't indicate the same emotion, it is calm and still, her eyes looking back at his filled with compassion because this isn't a person she has a gripe with, she doesn't want to go to war with him. It's in her nature to want to smooth things over... but you can't force that on someone, only wait.

"Could every one please give the man some room," she says after watching both Caitlin and Donna try to calm him and watching Vic suddenly confront his own emotions, "Victor, you can't blame the guy for needing space. Everyone deserves that dignity and our patience. You do too."

Her voice is steady and filled with calm. The kind of calm that can talk a person down from committing acts of violence. The kind of calm that makes sense. Also, it's a strange accent she wields. Having grown up in England and the USA, she has a blend of them both.

And though she's talking to Victor, her eyes don't leave Hank. Her shoulder gently shrugs away Donna's hand and she lifts her chin up, "Thank you Donna." The unspoken words accompanying that physical motion clear.. I can introduce myself.

As Donna states that 'she didn't ask for this', there is a quick glance down over Hank and back up again. Of course she asked for it - just like he did - the power to stop something bad that was coming their way. In her case it was terrorists in London. Did she know about Don? No.. or even Hawk? no.. but she said yes to Terataya all the same.

May be Donna doesn't know, but Hank sure as heck does. And yet her expression remains placid and calm. The tips of her lips twitch up almost in to a smile, but she hides it away. It was for the angry drunk man to see, for them to share. The truth of the situation is simple, she can read it just fine.. how could she ever take his brothers place? no, she has to treat him like the adult he is and respect his pain with maturity.

"Donna's right. You can glare at me just as well inside and with a full tummy." How dare, she turns her back and then glances over her shoulder to Hank, "You came all the way out here, you might as well eat. A reuben does sound nice."

It would have been the perfect dramatic exit if not for Kaida suddenly in her face. She goes cross-eyed and looks both bewildered and confused, "...Hi"

She smiles a moment and then walks inside. She has no _real_ sway over these people. She barely knows most of them. But she does hope they'll follow her lead, Hank included. It's an odd thing about Dove: you don't ask nicely for a situation to be deflate, it just deflates.

Hank Hall has posed:
    Hank blinks as Dawn speaks to him. Some of the bloodshot rage seems to fade from him. "You're..." It *was* the same feeling. She wasn't Don. She never could be, but that's part of the point isn't it? The feeling of her Dove is the same feeling, but delivered in a different way. His vision clears, and though the smell of beer is still lingering around him he seems to sober a great deal. "You're right..." he says, his voice going to something more like a normal tone. "I..."

    The Mouse in his vision causes him to take a step back in surprise. "Augh!" he says, almost stumbling into Mary. "Whoa!" he says, turning and managing to keep to his feet, some feats of poise are cosmically given, others are learned. This was the latter.

    He sighs and looks at Donna, Caitlin, and the departing Victor. "Hit me" he says. "I need it. I need... I need something to tell me that the mosquito bites from the Lord of Chaos in my brain is something more than that. Four years. Needle pricks for four years. It's... maddnening." He calls out to the departing Cyborg. "Vic! Get your metal ass back here and tell me you're angry in a language Donna, Cait, you and I all speak!"

    The force in his voice isn't the rage it was before, it's... almost jovial. The pain is still there, etched on his face in the creases at the side of his mouth and at his brow, but something Dawn said. Or maybe just the sound of her voice, truly had tamed the rage of the Hawk inside him.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary steps back quickly, holding up her hands. "Easy, big fella. I haven't even started classes and I don't think it's a good idea to start a nursing program needing a nurse...!"

She's trying to make light of the situation without poking fun. This guy has been through a lot, more than she can make heads-or-tails of. But right now keeping her mouth from going on for days seems like the right call.

Funny how the most she can do is blend into the background like a civilian who showed up at the wrong time...but here we are.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna turns her eyes on Dawn, looking at her speculatively for a few moments. One eyebrow arches slightly, but if she has something to say to Dawn, be it praise or criticism, she's saving it for the moment. Dawn may just notice the hint of a smile though.

    "Vic, you heard the man," Donna calls out. "Get your shiny metal ass back here. Nobody's saying everything's great. Just that there is a time and a place for dealing with things. Nobody's trying to erase history, Vic. But if you want to yell at Hawk for walking away and not talking to us for all these years, /you/ don't get to walk away when he finally comes back."

    Donna takes a step towards Hank, tilting her head to the side. "You want to be hit? Don't tempt me. Mary's gonna need to graduate first. And if you're so bothered by those 'mosquito bites' maybe you should have asked yourself what they were telling you. 'Cos maybe the answer to stop the bites was to stop hiding away."

    She takes another step forwards, then another, until she's up in Hank's face. "Maybe you do need to be hit a few times though, Hank. Maybe it would knock some sense into you. I'm up for it. But not here. Not now. Later, in the gym. Think you're up for it? It'll certainly hurt a lot more than some mosquito bites."

     She jabs a finger at him, straight at his gut, giving him a poke - not hard, but enough to feel. "You sure that's what you want, Hank? 'Cos I won't go easy."

    Suddenly she's grinning wide. "'Cos you're out of shape, mister. Some of us have been training our asses off all this time, not sitting in front of the football drinking beer. C'mon Hank. You haven't been in the Tower for four years. It's /time/. We've missed you, and I'm sure you've missed Cait's cooking. Food. Talk. Okay?"

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Leaps down and lets out a long sigh, "FINALLY!" She calls out, surprisingly loud for a mouse as she zips up to beside Dawn to walk in with her, "We do the part where we go inside and eat and such!" She shakes her head as she puts both of her tiny hands behind her head and looks up at Dawn.

"It is like this ALL the TIME with the people." She rolls her eyes and laughs as she goes, "It's like, come on! Just fight and eat about it!" She grins and shakes her head, rolling her eyes.

"You'd think just when they thought they had their life together they got turned into a mouse or something." She snickers and turns back and in her best theater voice with her jazz hands out, "DRAMA!" And then she is on her way toward the kitchen.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
With Donna and Dawn talking Hank down, Caitlin moves towards Victor. She doesn't do anything as gauche as trying to physically stop him. It's the same tactic she used with Hank-- obstructing the fast and easy way, and putting on an expression of earnest pleading.

"Please," she says again, and this time the words are soft enough just for Vic's ears. Fingertips touch his bare forearm and her other hand rests against the front of his shoulder, and she searches his good eye with her gaze. "Please, just... give him a chance."

Caitlin's breath is held unconsciously while Dawn speaks her piece. When it seems to break through, when Hawk hollers at Vic's retreating back, she exhales the held breath skywards through pursed lips. The tableu-- a stubborn Vic, a hotheaded Hank, Donna giving some tough love.

Perhaps most remarkably is how much Dawn sounds like Don did, in her moment. A voice filled with confidence and reason. It's familiar enough to hurt.

Victor Stone has posed:
    Vic stops in walking away, sighs at Caitlin. "You don't get it. None of you do. Which is it? Give him space or give him a chance? You think I didn't reach out? You think I didn't give him space? You think, what, I'm mad so I'm not happy he's back? I get it. Hank lost his brother. /We/ lost them /both/. And you don't just 'move on' from that shit, not that easy. If you don't still have nightmares about that day--well, lucky you."

    He doesn't break into a grin or get jovial. He just turns back and says, to both Donna and Hank, "I didn't figure throwing down in front of the /kids/ was a good idea." He gestures at Mary, at Kaida, at Nadia even. An indicator of how things have changed in Hank's absence. "If you're /sticking around/, we can have a talk in the gym." A talk that will surely involve punching.

    And then, to Hank, an olive branch: "It's Thursday. I think it's Ravens and Dolphins. I can stream it to your com so we don't subject everyone else to football."

Dawn Granger has posed:
Hank really wants to throw down just to feel like everything is real? Dawn raises an eyebrow. Vic won't do it.. Donna wants to do it. Titans, it's a weird bunch. Thankfully there is food.. as the little one is saying. "People are strange, when you're a stranger," she says quoting the Doors.

It is odd to her that she knows exactly what she needs to do with Hank. Just sit and talk with him. Even if they won't sell her alcohol in this silly country. She's legal in England but not here? come on.. but Vic? there's only two people that can patch that pain up and it's Vic and Hank.

She asks Kaida, "Would you like a lift?" Because those little legs aren't the biggest and she offers a hand down to her. The elevator is going to do most of the work anyway. She pauses with a hand holding the door open and looks back. Not everyone can fly or jump back up after all.

Possibly the only person who can feel how she feels right now is the man out there in so much pain, Hank. She might seem all placid and calm on the outside but her stomach is in knots. She's walked in to history, face first, and history is a brick wall. No one could have warned her that saying yes would lead to so much pain.

"I might suggest that now isn't necessarily the best time to try and talk.. or punch.. out the past. But you're still all friends, no matter what. Just share each others company for the evening."

Wise beyond her years, even if she can't prescribe herself the same medicine. These are people she is still getting to know in a city she's barely knows in a tower she's spent little time in. But for her mission, she will stick with it this time.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia slowly descends until she is not too far above everyone else. The words that follow are uncharacteristic of the Nadia that most of the Titans have experienced. "Sometimes you need to be hit, to feel pain, just to know that the things around you are real." She looks between Victor, Dawn, and Hank, though holds her words there for now.

Hank Hall has posed:
    Hank might not be in Titans shape but he's not all flab either. Donna's poke does strike home but there's a layer of core muscle under that doesn't yield as much as she might think it would. "Later. All three of you." Apparently Caitlin in included in the invitation for a throw down. "I admit I'm rusty, but I'm no pushover and you know it." He nods and then gives the Amazonian a small, if genuine smile.

    He looks up at the Waspette and nods. "She gets it. But the others are right. Later." He looks after Dawn and nods. "Let's go in, as long as Cait's offer of a Ruben is genuine. Finding a place here in Metropolis that even knows what one is has been murder." As an after he calls to Cyborg. "And Vic's offer of the Dolphins-Ravens is true. That's my team, man. Ravens all the way."