4203/Red-x Riddles Redux, with added coffee.

Red-x Riddles Redux, with added coffee.
Date of Scene:	05 April 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Colette airs her suspicions. Is there Dark Secret at the heart of Titan's Tower?
Cast of Characters:	Stardust, Raijin

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Stardust has posed:
It's not long after the ciphers sent by Red-x have been cracked. Rayner and Colette spent a little time playing games, before Colette wandered off, talking to herself. Knowing Colette, probably not actually to herself, but she seemed preoccupied. Then, about an hour later, she sent a message to Rayner. "Meet me at the coffee shop next to the pizza place."

A belated recognition of Rayner's attempts to ask her on a date? There's not much to go on, just the simple meet me. Perhaps not the wording someone would use though. No "Would you like..." no friendly "Hi Rainman," even. For someone as chatty as Colette, it's quite a terse instruction. Mystery upon mystery...

  Of course Colette's there first. Not that Rayner isn't faster, but Colette's already there when she sent the message. She's out of uniform, enjoying the anonymity of her civilian identity as sits at a table towards the rear of the coffee shop, sipping at some overpriced, mediocre coffee with an Italian name, which no Italian would ever deign to drink.

Raijin has posed:
Rayner and Colette played videogames for quite some time, though when she walked off, he quietly chided himself for failing to ask her out properly. He even facepalmed more than once....before she sent him that text message. His hopes restored that she might -actually- want to go on such a date with him, he was still in his suit, so he used his superspeed to clean himself up and put on some more casual clothing as to not steal attention from her or towards themselves and he runs on over there! about 3 seconds after the text was sent.

He straightens out his jacket, before entering in, seeing Colette there drinking her coffee. Deep breaths Rayner...you got this. So he approaches. No swagger, no flirtatious look, just him being himself. He sits down at the table. "Hey Colette." He smiles to her, sitting next to her at the table as he clasped his hands in front of him.

He worked his brain working up those cipher decription knowledge he thought he lost...he's surprised he could unlock all the cryptograms. Regardless, he smiles his beautiful smile at Colette.

"You look beautiful, by the way."

Stardust has posed:
"Hiya Rainman. Thanks." Colette looks up, distracted. A frown passes across her face, but it's momentary, then she smiles and gestures to the seat opposite. "Should have asked how you drink your coffee. Didn't think of it. If you don't like it, I'll have it." As she speaks she pushes a second cup of coffee across to the other seat, the same non-Italian concoction she's drinking. Probably some kind of latte with extra buzz-words. Hopefully not with pumpkin spice.

  "I wanted to talk to you away from the tower, " she says. That sounds hopeful. "I'm not sure... well. You're new. And that means... well that means you're the logical person to speak to about this." That sounds less hopeful. "I think we're missing something. The message to Raven, that thing about 'almost found me out'. And that's not all, I think we forgot to solve one part of the riddle." She takes her phone out, pulls up the image of the original message, and slides it across the table. "Take a look."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner seems to have all of his get up and go vastly eliminated when he realizes that this is not a date, but rather Colette wanting to have a private discussion with him, since he ewas the Newest Titan to the team. He wasn't upset by it, it makes perfect sense, but he does smile to her softly as he shrugs. "Eh, it's still good. I'll keep this one." he winks at her, even as she starts to speak.

"Okay, shoot. I'm all ears."

Rayner listens to every word she says, and he narrows his eyes softly. "Yeah, I got that too...maybe she used a spell or something that wasn't quite right?" he asks curiously then, before she pulls out the original image for him, and he glances it over.

"Okay..lets see what we got here..."

Stardust has posed:
Colette sits back and sips her coffee, watching Rayner over the lip of the cup as he studies the image. "First line," she prompts. "He's... terse. Doesn't waste words. So what is that first line about? I don't think it's just a greeting."

She shuts her mouth for a moment or two to let him think about it, but the quiet doesn't last long. "Elvis," she says. Well, she can't leave Rayner to do ALL the puzzle solving. "It's an Elvis song. 'Always on My Mind.' She reaches a finger over and flicks at the screen, shifting to a lyrics sheet. "Read," she instructs. "I figured before that x-face had a history with Damian. First batch of messages... generic. Except the one for him. Thought he might be trying to cover it up by making it seem like it was targeting all of us, but mostly about him. This time, same only Rae. Something personal."

She pauses a few moments to give Rayner time to read the lyrics, fidgeting slightly with her cup, but not necessarily long enough for him to finish reading. Colette can be impatient. "I think he's got a history. With the Titans. In fact I have a suspicion that he may be an ex-member. Like, x-face, ex-Titan. Only ex-member since I've been here was Vorpal, and no way is it him. And if he's an ex-member, he might still have access to the systems at the Tower."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner reads through what was on the original message before Colette interjects as he's in mid-problem solve. She tells him it's an elvis song and her varying theories. "History with Damian....do we know if this Red-X has any powers? Height, weight?" he asks then, as if attempting to put the pieces together. He takes a breath though beforeh e puts the two messages side by side. "How did Raven attempt to find him the first time?" He asks Colette another question as he starts to think, his incredible mind put to work.

"Not Vorpal...met him once. This kind of stuff isn't his style. Friendly guy though." Yes, he knows basic people reading, though his eyes are on COlette. "Who said it wasn't a current member?" He asks her then, "we need to consider all options...Dan was acting really disinterested and distant about it..like it didn't matter. But hes always been like that...I haven't seen Damian around a whole lot either...hmm.."

Stardust has posed:
"Read the lyrics, Rainy." Colette gestures at the phone with her cup. "It's a song about regret. For a missed opportunity. In that case, an ex-lover. Obviously the Titans don't have an ex-lover, unless the group was very different in the days before I joined." She smirks slightly. "So, ex-member."

Colette apparently doesn't need to refer to the screen to quote. "'Little things I should have said and done / I just never took the time / you are always on my mind.' That sounds to me like an ex-member. Someone with hidden resentment. Someone who maybe had to leave because Raven almost found out some truth about him. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Mind you..." she cants her head to the side, looking thoughtful, and nibbles on her lower lip. "There's a lot about him that says Ninja Assassin. And that could be Dan. But... why would he have regrets? He's still there. Plus, Dan? Nah. I mean does he even know what music is?"

Raijin has posed:
Raynr starts reading the lyrics as Colette gestures then, tilting his head as he reads every lin carefully. "Colette....we can't be hasty in how we decide things. If they were going to leave and pull this stuff off...then leaving would give them away, and we'd know pretty easily who it was. It makes more sense if they were somehow on the team. Secretive as we al are, they'd need firstrate information about us to even start to make these cryptograms in the first place."

Rayner doesn't look convinced. "I don't like this...but both options are still in effect. If it was a former member, it's none that we know. Anyone could have regrets, even Dan. and.." he laughs at Colett'es comment. "I doubt it." his eyes keeping on hers.

His hand does inch a little bit closer to her own though.

Stardust has posed:
Colette blinks thoughtfully, then gives a slight shrug of her shoulders. Suddenly, as if she'd just made her mind up about something, she reaches out and takes her phone, pocketing it. Inevitably using the hand Rayner's own had been approaching. She leans back again, and rubs the back of her head.

"I dunno, Rainy. If he did this right after leaving, yeah. Which is another reason why not Vorpal. But I'm thinking, well. I've been with the Titans what... seven months? If it's someone from before my time, which makes sense, then I figure that's a long enough pause to escape suspicion. That explains why his comments to us newer members are so generic, and older members are getting more personal stuff. And also why Vorpal is getting the X-face treatment despite no longer being a memb..."

  Colette stops suddenly, blinks, and pulls her phone out again. She flicks quickly through the menus, then studies the screen intently. Faint audio can be heard, and recognized -- the original video message Red-X sent. "It's hard to make anything out. Too dark. I mean... it could... she looks up, and her expression isn't happy. "Um. It could be Beast Boy." She shakes her head. "No. I mean... I can't believe that he'd do..." she interrupts herself with a growl and puts her phone away again. "I dunno. Don't care. Don't care what Dan says, when I find this guy I'mma punch him in the face for being annoying."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner looks at the hand again as she pulled it away to start looking through her phone...sad Rayner is sad. Alas, he takes that deep breath, and he turns his head to Colette, narrowing his eyes softly as he looks over the video, hearing that faint audio. "Wait....if itwas taken in the tower, it could be Beast Boy just being loud in hte next room. Too dark to see anything, so we can't go off of that alone..." he starts to use his head.

"What if...." his eyes widen softly.

"I don't like this at all." he says then. "Maybe we should talk to Raven? see if she has any input? The big one was targeted at her after all." his eyes fall on her as she starts to get frustrated. "Hey..." he reaches once more to try and inch his hand towards hers. "We'll figure this out alright? Always do."

Stardust has posed:
"I'm not saying ti was taken in the Tower," Colette clarifies. "Just wondering if the figure in the video could be him in a costume. But..." she shakes her head and sighs softly. "I didn't really get to know him all that well, but it just doesn't seem like him. I mean he loved practical jokes, but this doesn't seem his style at all, just that... well. Doesn't matter."

Colette takes a deep breath and then a deep drink of her coffee. "Rae and Damian are the ones who are most likely to have something to say. But you know what? Damian... he seemed real pissed about this guy. I mean more than normal Angry Bird levels of anger. And Rae just noped out when her code was cracked. Said something about 'generic insults' when hers was no way generic. Implied they had a past. So... I mean, gotta wonder if they're keeping us out of the loop on something. Something that happened before we joined. That's why I asked you to come here, Rainy. 'Cos if I'm right, it's something from before either of us signed up. Do... Does the Titans have a dark secret?"

She sits in silence for a few moments, leaving that question to sit over them. Then, quite suddenly, a bright smile breaks out over her face, and she says "Yeah, you're right. We'll solve this." And then she moves her hand again.

This time though, she moves it to reach Rayner's, giving it a squeeze.

And then, before there's even time to process that, she stands up, grabs her coffee, swigs the last of it down, and announces she's off. "Okay. Thanks for listening, Rainman. Keep your eyes peeled. And uh... I've had an idea. Do me a favor and sneak some kind of logger onto the monitor system, so we can find out who accesses any particular remote feed, could you? I'm gonna go set some cameras up at the locations we've been given."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner nods a few times to Colette as she initially speaks that she was hoping to see whoever it was in costume in that video that they sent....but when it's discovered that it's still too dark to really imply anything, Rayner shrugs. "Yeah...doesn't sound like beast boy..."

Then Damian and Raven are mentioned. "Yeah...I mean, little boy wonder is pissed off all the time, but this seemed to light a fuse, you know? It wasn't something I was really expecting form him. Raven blew off every discovery the other night....sarcasm was everywhere. If the Titans have a dark secret...then we'll figure it out and clear the name." He smile warmly to her...but what he didn't suspect?

-SHE- was the one who reached out and held his hand, giving it a squeeze. He blushes a bright shade of red, looking at her as she smiled that beautiful smile at him. He did squeeze her hand in return, which was definitely a flirtateous move, but as she stands up and asks him for a favor, he nods softly.

"Anytime Colette. My ears are always available to you. and yeah, I can hotwire a few loggers in the monitoring area." he winks at her softly as he stands up. "I'll see you soon Colette...and hey." he waits for her to look at him. "Stay safe. and...let's do this again, sometime."