4257/Through a Glass, Darkly.

Through a Glass, Darkly.
Date of Scene:	11 April 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Rayner tries to flirt with Colette while she's distracted by weighty matters. Again.
Cast of Characters:	Stardust, Raijin

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Stardust has posed:
Colette's storm-out didn't last too long. Lucky if anyone was trying to look for her - perhaps it has never really been obvious how private she has been, but despite the fact that she generally tells everyone her real first name within 2.4 seconds of meeting them, she doesn't seem to have said that much else. What her family name is. Where she lives. What she does when she's not superheroing. Most relevantly, how to contact her when she's not answering the Titans comm. Nevertheless, that's no longer a problem as she's back in the Tower.

And training. She's dressed for the gym, but as ever in a Stardust-variant outfit that could almost pass for a superheroing costume. Bare midriffs are almost as common for metahuman crimefighting outfits as they are for gym outfits these days, after all. As is so often the case when Colette is training, her routine is just a little bit odd.

  She's not using wieghts, treadmills, crosstrainers or any of the other more normal gear, but she's making full use of the various beams, ropes, hooks and so on for acrobatic training. While she can fly, which might seem like it makes skills like climbing and balancing rather redundant, she seems to be combining the two functions. She leaps from platform to platform, perching for the briefest moment before launching herself to another platform, mixing flight and leap to go much further than she normally could. Sometimes her perching ignores the constraints of gravity altogether, as she perches upside-down on the underside of a beam, obviously using her flight powers to hold herself there, before kicking off to another beam.

On the floor in the middle of the room, she has placed a punching ball. From time to time, following a pattern all her own, her pinball-like bouncing around the room takes her within range of the punching ball, and when it does...

...she lightly taps it.

Stardust's training is nothing if not unusual.

Raijin has posed:
Rayner had grown incredibly worried about Colette. He knew that she was angry that they were taking the time to try and figure out the puzzles...because they just -couldn't- find this Red X bastard who kept on hazing them with whatever he wanted to haze them with. Rayner was arguably the closest to Colette as a friend and even he didn't know that kind of stuff...he didn't know her last name, he didn't know where she lived, and he didn't know where she ran off to because she had disabled her communicator's natural tracking system, which was used in the event that a Titan suddenly went lights out.

So Rayner had been overjoyed when word touched his ears that Colette was back in the tower. Zooming around the tower with his super speed until he hit the gym, where he saw her in her superhero outfit, which was very flattering to her amazing figure, and he simply sat back and watched. Wearing an open-zipped version of his leather black and yellow biker's jacket with black biker gloves, black cargo pants with multiple straps and packs to help him put things places, and combat boots. His new superhero garb? Alas, he watches Stardust train as Raijin approaches her, hood over his head.

but thankfully, judging from his voice and his mannerisms, it wouldn't be hard at all for her to tell that it was him.

"Hey stranger. Can we talk?" he asks then in his naturally soothing voice, just worried and concerned about her. Okay, yes, he's biased and he's crushing on her -big time- but he was stepping up because he cared, not for some ulterior motive.

Stardust has posed:
Colette continues her bouncing when Rayner enters, showing no sign that she's noticed him. Whether that's because she hasn't or because she's concentrating deeply is hard to tell. Even when he speaks, she doesn't immediately respond, but instead alters the trajectory of her course around the room, kicking off from a wall, swining by a hand from a walkway to change direction rapidly, boosting herself presumably using flight towards where he stands. She hits the wall above his head with a soft thwap of bare feet, and backflips onto the ground in front of him. She stares into his eyes in silence for a few moments, then smiles and says "Sure. What's up, Rainman?"

"Oh... don't tell me..." She heads to a corner where she has her pack stashed, and grabs herself a towel, which she slings over her shoulders, and a bottle of water, which she drinks. Then she pads back towards him. "It's about my uh... dramatic exit. Sorry. Can we forget about it?"

Raijin has posed:
At least she looks like she's in more cheerful spirits. This seems to bring a smile to Raijin's face. Alas, when she does an epic backflip and lands right in front of him, the landing above his head previously doesn't even get him to flinch. That said? He offers her the warmest smile. "Hey, it's alright...we don't have to talk about it, I'm just worried about you is all. I know you hate that we've been doing the cryptic stuff...and I'd avoid it like the plague to, but the thing is.."

He sighs then, lowering his hood to reveal his shoulder length black hair.

"I -can't- find him. Not even a hint. the best chance we got is to follow the hints, and hopefully catch him off guard. Outsmart him. But..I don't want to talk about that either." he approaches her then, reaching for her hand as if to hold it, becoming close to her physically. "Are you alright? Where did you go? I was looking for you everywhere."

Stardust has posed:
Colette is silent for a few moments before giving the simplest possible answer. "I went home." She blinks a couple of times, then takes a long drink of water. "Look, I just let... I just got a bit annoyed about the whole thing. There are bunch of things we could do to find X-Face, honestly. But I'm not sure I care any more. I mean the only reason we know this guy isn't just some internet troll is because... well for reasons which nobody seems to care about, anyway."

She looks down, staring at her bare feet as she raises herself up on her toes, splaying them. "So... whatever. He seems to think he's got a right to judge us all, for reasons nobody can be bothered to explain. And all the older members just seem to be going along with it. So I really don't care any more. Let him do his thing. If he thinks he can judge me though... well, he can just stay away from me, then we're good. If not, I'm going to hurt him."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner looks at her then as he stands close to her, holding her hand in his own...lovingly. and Colette may be able to notice that despite her oblivious nature to him. Alas, he listens to her closely. He nods then to her as she speaks and really just shares what she was thinking with him, and he nods a few times as she speaks many points that he actually agrees with! "Yeah...I know. He knows things that we barely know about ourselves. Personally I'm sick of it...and I just want him gone at this point." he sighs then, giving her hand a squeeze.

"But hey...I personally think that you're amazing, and no computer jockey half pint's gonna change that about you, okay? How about...how about this." he looks around then.

"How about we go back to your place. We can watch movies and just deflate." he asks her out on a date, yes.

Stardust has posed:
Colette stands there for a moment, thinking. Finally she moves back a bit, pulling away from Rayner, though not pulling her hand away. "No, Rainy. He..." she shakes her head. "That's what gets my... winds me up about it. He acts so superior but.. he doesn't know a fucking thing about me. He just... yeah. He acts like he knows everything. Like he's so damn superior. What's he ever done, anyway? He doesn't know who I am, what I... he has the... the... " as she struggles to express herself, the phrase Damian had used when the first video turned up springs to mind. "...The /gall/ to talk about responsibilities. Like... it's some kind of... he hasn't got a fucking clue. That's all."

She falls to silence for a moment, but apparently that's not quite all. "Well I'm not playing his game. If you wanna go to China Basin and see what he's got to say, well, go ahead. Same with Vorp and the bank. But I'm not wasting my time on him, because HE hasn't done a damn thing to show that HE has any right to judge US. He can stay the hell out of my way, and if he doesn't..."

She leaves the threat unspoken, and then that really is all.

Raijin has posed:
Rayner watches her as she pulls away from him, apparently at least not wanting that kind of closeness with him as she speaks her heart out. Rayner is comforted that she hasn't even tried to pull her hand away from him yet, their fingers starting to intertwine as Rayner tries to show affection ofa more romantic sort. His eyes fall on her as she just speaks about why she's just that angry, and he does't say a word while she talks, listening to her in full as she just...lets it all out.

When she finishes? He gives her hand a solid squeeze, and he looks her right in the eyes, maintaining his distance from her. "...I understand. I'll likely stay here, just in case he ends up trying to pull one over on us here but..." he attempts to close the distance with her once more. "Thank you for talking to me. Hey, look at me." as she lowered her head and went into silence, he tries to get her to look him in the eyes with those gentle squeezes to her hand. "I'll always be here for you. I promise, Colette." he says with that warmth that could calm a thunderstorm.

"...how about we get outta here, huh? we'll get your mind off of it."

Stardust has posed:
Colette does look up at him, and holds his gaze. The shadow of half a dozen different expressions flicker across her face as many seconds. She settles on a smile.

"Thanks, Rainy." The response is warm and genuine, but there's something unspoken in there too. "I'm okay, honestly. I'm just not gonna bother with him. Not gonna run around after him, for sure. He's got more to prove than we have, let him do the running around, you know?" Her smiles breaks into a grin. "'sides, if he does try to pull a fast one and come here, well that saves us the effort, right?"

Finally she does pull away properly, disentangling her hand, to step back and towel herself off a bit. "I need to go take a shower, but maybe pizza and a movie would be a good plan after that. Meet me in the rec room in fifteen?"

He may have broken down some barriers, but either her head was too far into the question to have noticed his suggestion of a visit to her place, or the barrier she's set up between her life as a Titan and her private life is not one of those she's quite prepared to have torn down yet.

Raijin has posed:
Rayner smiles warmly to her as she thanks him in that warmth, her eyes looking up to his own. He knows there's something unsaid...just as she knows there's something that he didn't say, but he could have. Alas, he nods then with that big warm smile then. "It's my pleasure, Letty." he gives her that new nickname that he likely spent a good deal of time trying to think up. What? he wasn't was witty as she was when it comes to nicknames, but it was given with affection, just like she tends to call him 'Rainy' instead of 'Rainman' nowadays.

"Good...you had me worried sick." he gives her that playful nudge, before his smile grows wider. "Hell yeah." he nods affirmingly at her words that if Red X comes to them? they can just clobber him.

Alas, she finally lets go of his hand, nodding to her as his fingers and hers untangle from each other. "Sounds like an awesome plan. I'll see you there. We can watch a cheesy flick like Spaceballs or something." he winks at her then as he starts to walk away backwards, watching her the entire time.

He was happy at every conversation that they had. He wanted to be close to her, just like he ewanted her to be close to him. But his affection for her grew with each passing moment, and so he took that deep breath, nodding to her. "Oh...something does reach my attention. I never did catch your last name." he smiles to her warmly then as he speaks playfully, deifnitely in flirtatious attitude.

Stardust has posed:
As they go their separate ways, Colette stops in the doorway and turns back to face Rayner when that last question is asked. She cants her head to the side, gives the question a few moments thought. "Oh... that's because you never asked it," she replies with an impish grin. The grin widens, then she vanishes through the doorway, leaving just a soft laugh behind her.

Raijin has posed:
Rayner smiles then to her with that big smile on his face, finally moving through the doorway as he made his way to that rec center, likely even fist pumping in a 'yes!" kind of way. What? he's a dork with a crush.