5167/Stars On The Rooftops

Stars On The Rooftops
Date of Scene:	14 August 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Raijin, Stardust

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Raijin has posed:
It was more towards the evening. With Titans Tower being surprisingly...quiet. Most of the team was still participating in the after effects of the mushroom crisis while others simply...went to do their own thing. Though Rayner was tempted to yell at Damian some more or try to find Colette, he instead decided to go for a swim. THANKFULLY his body worked in a way that despite being made of electricity at this point, he doesn't short out when he enters the pool, nor will people get fried if they enter the pool with him.

At present, he wears long board shorts. Yellow and Black abstract pattern. He's doing some lap swimming, apparently, until he just...rests on the pool's edge, watching the sunset. By now, it was mostly done, with stars starting to twinkle in the night sky.

He was alone. He's not often alone.

But...such is the effect of deep thinking.

Stardust has posed:
One of the twinkling stars is moving. Satellite? No, the movement isn't straight. Plane? Probably.

No running lights though, just a faint twinkling dot of light in the sky, moving across the bay in a lazy zig-zag, and slowly approaching the tower. It's hard to guess distances, but when it's perhaps a mile away, it suddenly shoots straight upwards, fast, and disappears into the night sky. A few moments later it reappears over the tower, descending.

    The dot of light gets larger, beginning to show structure. It's humanoid, and it's shimmering in the night. The last few hundred feet of descent happen quite suddenly, and the glowing figure comes to a surprisingly sudden stop on the roof, the gentleness of the landing belying the speed of the descent. The glow fades almost instantly to the faint shimmer of Stardust's costume. Maybe it was an optical illusion all along.

    Stardust pads forwards a few steps, then stops suddenly when she realizes she's not alone. "Rainman," she says. She's silent a few moments, as if she was taken by surprise by anyone being here. Then, her voice suddenly cheerier, "Heya. What's up? Taking in the view? Sunsets are pretty cool from up here."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner noticed that bright light...that twinkling star, and at first, he did in fact think it was an actual shooting star, and closed his eyes to make his wish. His heart, at the moment, only ever had one single desire...but, would it ever come to be? Wait a second...is that star getting bigger? OH GOD IS A METEOR?! AHH!- oh wait, it's just Stardust.

Rayner simply smiled to Stardust as he greets Stardust. "Hey Letty." Raijin says with a bit of a smile, standing up in the water so the water is at his waist. "Yeah. Thought I'd take some time to think..be by myself and enjoy the sunset." he looks at the water then back to Letty. "You can join me if you want? It's good to have company and..." he blushes mildly.

"I missed you."

Silence then. Before he looks to the sunset. "Do you like the sunset or the sunrise better?" break the ice!

Stardust has posed:
    Stardust stares at Rayner for a few moments, then stares at the sunset. "Better? I have no idea. Um." She glances back at Rayner, then shrugs her shoulders. "Sunsets are prettiest when there's lots of pollution. Ironic, n'est-ce pas?" She grins and returns her gaze to the sunset.

    "It's been a busy few... well, months, really," she continues. "It's a weird feeling, isn't it? I mean nothing much actually happening. After all that. Well... apart from Vorpal being incredibly skittish about whatever happened to him in Scotland. Which will no doubt turn into some horrendous threat to the enture fabric of the universe." She falls silent again.

    "Actually," she continues after a few moments. "A sun setting behind a planetary ring system is pretty amazing to see. Space was cool. You should go there some time. Funny. We travelled half way across the galaxy, and met a Russian. That's got to be some kind of crazy coincidence."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner looks to the susnet, before he shrugs. "Yeah, true, true." Yes, he speaks fluent french and knows her words. But, alas, he nods a bit. "Yeah. It really has been. First with the Red X fiasco then the Mushrooms then..whatever the hell Vorpal is going through at the moment. Worry about the guy." he sighs a bit before shrugging.

"But...I personally like the sunsets better. When the sun turns that perfect shade of orange that turns the sky into a beautiful painting. It was a favorite of my parents." he smiles at the thought.

"Wait, what? you met a Russian?" Rayner's thought process is seriously derailed as he exits the pool and starts to dry himself off.

Stardust has posed:
"Yeah," Stardust confirms. "Russian guy in charge of security on a space station built inside the severed head of a giant space alien. I'm totally not making it up. He kicked us off the station just because some weird self-duplicating aliens decided to attack us instead of give us an invitation to visit a museum, like they were supposed to. I... wasn't really paying attention to the details. But it helped us get back quickly with Steve, because he let us use like a Star Trek teleporter thing to get back instantly. Which worked out well, 'cos things were getting a bit tight for time back there. A couple more days of flying in a space ship to get us back could have been a real problem. I think he was an old cosmonaut who got lost or something."

    After the somewhat confusing story, Stardust drifts into silence again, as if for once she's struggling for words. She gives one of those quick shoulder shrugs she's so prone too. "Anyway. It all worked out. Like I said it would. We got Steve. Beat the bad mushrooms. Saved the planet. That was the idea, after all."

Raijin has posed:
Raijin just...tilts his head for a minute. Wait, what? Star Trek? EVERYTHING IS CONFUSING. "Man, Space is...weird. Well then, next time take me with you, yeah?" he grins happily to her before he tosses on a loose, longsleeve shirt and he approaches Stardust. "I'm just glad it did. We even took down a massive mushroom squid monster. Took out the queen. So hey, I'll give us a thumbs up."

He smiled warmly to her, before he attempted to reach for her hand. "But how have //you// been doing with all of this? It's kinda been...a lot lately. Shot after shot."

Stardust has posed:
There's another shrug from Colette, and she folds her arms across her chest. Whether that was intentionally avoiding his hand or accidental is impossible to tell, but it doesn't take a body language expert to tell it's a closed-off kind of gesture. Maybe even a touch defensive. "I'm fine. I mean I did slice a guy in half with a sword which kinda... well, puts things into perspective. And I'm half expecting to get kicked out of the Titans for it. But he was trying to destroy the world at the time, so no regrets. Just, you know. Thinking. But basically, yeah. Fine. Before I left..." she turns from the sunset to look at Rainer. "Remember? When I talked about saving the world? Well. We saved the world. Stood right next to the big guys in the final battle, and together we won the fight. But we won because of /us/. The Titans. You know, when it comes to the personal achievement stakes, it doesn't come a whole lot higher than that, does it? I swore we'd save the world, and we did. So that's how I'm doing. " There's a short, awkward pause. "How about you?"

Raijin has posed:
Rayner's arm was like...halfway there before Letty crossed her arms. Rayner looks saddened, so he just lets his hand move back to his side. Nooo touchy. Well, alright then. Either way, he seems to nod with a warm smile to her. "Yeah...well, hey, I fried a man to death with my lightning. the guy who was trying to pawn off the shrooms? Yeah...if you get kicked out, guess I will too. Maybe the Avengers will take us in?" he says in a slightly joking manner. "We all got our mistakes. Besides, who are the Titans to judge? Damian was an assassin for christs sake. Still is, but somehow he reigned it in." he shrugs.

"I didn't mean to upset you." Rayner says, before he shrugs. "Well...I'm confused, but..we saved the world. I wish the team was more...unified. I can still feel the tension in some talks." he sighs. "We did save the world. If barely in the nick of time. Feels good to stand up with the big guns and save the day...really makes you feel like a hero." he teases but then he grows serious. "So..um...what are we going to do about..." he moves a finger to imply the two of them.

They've been awkward for quite a bit.

Stardust has posed:
    Colette looks down at her feet, shuffling a little. "And Brick took a swing at him too. Not to mention... well I dunno if you noticed but Mere Boite was doing... I dunno. Who knows, apart from Brick. I figure we can't all be kicked out." She tilts her head back up at him, grinning. "Yeah I don't think anyone's going to complain too much about it. I figure that falls into the 'let's not mention it' category. But you know, the others make a big thing about the not killing business. I think if you need to save the planet you get a pass." She grins a little, then looks down again.

    "What are we going to do about..." Colette takes a deep breath. "Us?" She runs a hand through her hair and sighs. "I... don't know. I mean. I like you. You're a really nice guy. You're fun to hang out with. And you're kinda hot. But also you're a Titan. A cape. And that's..."

    She looks up again, this time catching Rayner's gaze. "Can I be honest with you? I don't want to be a Titan. Or an Avenger. Or any of this. It's not how I see myself. I don't feel... all the rest of you, it seems right. This is who you are. Who you're meant to be. Not me though. But if this happens, if you wake up one day able to save people's lives, and you don't do that, you let people die, what kind of person does that make you? So this last year, more than a year now, that's been kind of a deal. When I told you I was going to save the world, well. I did. I mean not on my own obviously, but you know. I found the info. I negotiated our way onto a space ship. Went and fetched the fungus. So that means..." She looks away again, suddenly. Her eyes go back to the last rays of the setting sun. She breathes out slowly, then looks back, her body relaxing a little.

    "It means I'm /free/, Rainy. Colette smiles faintly. "For the first time since this I got this thing in my head, I'm free. I don't have to feel guilty. If I walk away now and never save another person in my life, that's okay. Because I played a pivotal role in saving everyone. You know, we're even passing on our techniques to the other planets out there. So what we did in Mexico, that could be going to save even more planets, whole species we never heard of. And you know? I can live with that."

    Colette's smile widens. "So, I guess that's it. I mean I'm not saying I'm going to leave the Titans tomorrow or anything like that. But I... I guess what I'm saying is that I need to be able to. And that's already tough because you guys are my friends. I couldn't ever walk away completely. I mean even if I saved the entire universe single-handed, I know there would be times when you guys need me, and I will always be there for you. But..." Her eyes drop groundwards again, and the smile fades. She looks out across the darkened bay. "As for /us/. Do you see where that would be an issue? I don't want to be tied to the Titans. To this life. And if there was an 'us', then I would be." She lets out a soft sigh.

Raijin has posed:
Rayner simply looks at Colette as she really shares herself with him, looking off into that dark horizon as whatever is between them appears to Finally be settled, and they share their true intentions with one another. No bullshit, no sideswiping, no awkward departures...just //the truth//. Rayner listens to every word that comes out of her mouth. Though he seems confused when she tells him that she likes him in probably the romantic sense..but also calls him a 'cape'.

He doesn't know whether to be complimented or insulted at the moment buuut keep livin' in the moment.

"Letty. We've all already saved the universe. We were heroes. Do I want to be a hero? Does it matter? It doesn't matter if you want to be a hero or not. You could walk away right now, and be a singer." he's overheard her singing at times. "You've got the voice for it. Or be a teacher, or join the military, or be a waitress...be normal. Do I need to be a hero? Course not. Honestly, if I wasn't a Titan or a vigilante or a hero or whatever, life would probably be easier. I'm not called to //anything//. Heroing is fun. It's really the only reason why I do it. I run a billion dollar company in my spare time. If I wanted to, I could go be normal."

He approaches Letty again, attempting to close distance between them so he can look her in the eyes. "I don't want to be tied to the titans either. So lets go be //normal//." he looks her in the eyes. "You already said it. We were already the saviors of the universe. What more can we ask for?" he meant it to. Was he in love with her? "Because you're worth it."

Stardust has posed:
The smile Colette gives to Rayner warm and open. Getting all of that out there, sharing the thing that has been bothering her so much for so long, is a weight off her mind, there's no question. "Rainy? That's sweet. But it doesn't make sense. If I walk out of here... well, that's on me. And for the first time since this all happened, I feel like I'm free enough that I could actually do that. But I mean, basically you've just told me I only have to say the world and you'll leave the Titans too." She laughs a little. "Not helping, Rainy! We'd have to go save the universe another time first." She smiles a secretive smile, and reaches out to give his hand a squeeze, but quickly pulls away again, and looks out over the bay.

    "Besides, you said it yourself," Colette says, shaking her head. 'Heroing is fun'. It would be wrong to pull you away from something that you find fun. Not that I believe you. When you say it's the only reason you do it. You save people's lives just for fun? I don't think so. It's... you, Rainy. Doing this. It's in your blood, in your bones. You're the hero type. Besides..." She tilts her head towards him, giving him an amused smile. "You do realize that running a billion dollar company doesn't really count as normal even without the whole running around at super speed and shooting lightning bolts thing?"

Raijin has posed:
Rayner laughs a little bit, moving next to her as they look out towards the bay, though as she speaks and gave his hand a squeeze, Rayner blushed and looked at Colette...even as sh spoke that he wasn't fair about the universe saving bit and her needing only to say the word and he'd join her in leaving the Titans. "Maybe, maybe not." he smiles to her.

"But it's not my reason for being. I'm not much of a hero type..I just believe in doing the right thing, just like everyone else." he smiles to her as he tries to give her shoulder a light nudge, reaching for her hand to try to squeeze it...but also just to hold her hand. If she lets him. "Yeah...I guess I can't be //too// normal huh?" he smiles to her. "But that makes too of us. Dunno if you can ditch that thing in your head." he does a quick little shrug. "Well, I'd be okay with it if you said the word. Heroing isn't my life...I want to live one, you know. I like you, Letty...a lot. More than I have the courage to admit." he admits to her, looking her right in the eyes.

Stardust has posed:
Colette lets the hand holding happen, at least for a short while. "I'm not saying it's your life, Rainy. But it's part of who you are. I mean... even literally. It's in your DNA or whatever. Just as much as it's part of who Damian is because he spent his entire life training for it. Or Vorp because he's half extra-dimensional chaos cat. Or... honestly I'm not so sure about Moon Moon. I suspect for him it's a guilt thing. Trying to fix something he feels is broken. But for the rest of the Titans, you all belong in a way I don't." She shakes her head, looking away. "I don't have the powers, Rainy. Those belong to someone else who just decided to use me as a vehicle. Without even asking. And I don't have the training either. I mean even Breath was training in martial arts for years before her powers came through. All of you, one way or another, have been heading in this direction for years if not since you were born. I was never heading this way until one day a voice in my head said 'Hi, you're a superhero now. Get to work.'

    Finally she withdraws her hand and pulls away. "If I could ditch the thing in my head, I would. Apparently you have to be mentally compatible, and almost nobody is. My bad luck. But it's not me. It's not a part of me. Nuala called it a parasite, and she's not wrong. There's another shrug, and her eyes go to the elevator.

    "I'm hungry," Colette says, moving onto safer ground, and clearly declaring the topic closed, for now. "Wanna get some food and play a game or two? Maybe we could order in a Chinese takeout for a change, I'm kinda bored of pizza."