1346/A Friendly Word

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A Friendly Word
Date of Scene: 24 April 2020
Location: Teacher's Lounge - Happy Harbor High School
Synopsis: Colette and Caitlin compare notes about Sam Morgan following his 'visit' to Titan Tower.
Cast of Characters: Caitlin Fairchild, Colette O'Connail




Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
After the incident with Sam Morgan in Titans Tower, Caitlin Fairchild had spent some time mulling over the events. One issue in particular stuck out: his 'invitation' from Colette O'Connail to drop in on the Titans. After exchanging a few text messages, Caitlin had arranged for Colette O'Connail to meet her during a quiet hour at Happy Harbor.

Caitlin's there in the teacher's lounge when Colette arrives, sitting at one of the round tables where the staff take their breaks. She's dressed in casual clothing; rugged jeans, low-heeled boots, and a modest camisole under a button-down blue blouse. When Colette arrives, Caitlin looks up and flashes a smile; her phone's set on the table and a red light flashes from it, along with a soft humming noise. The acoustic scrambler rumbles outside the range of human hearing.

"C'mon have a seat, Colette," she invites, and gesturess at a chair. "I need to talk to you. About Sam Morgan."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
~/Well now I'm droppin' names almost constantly?~
~/That's what Kanye West keeps telling me, here's why/~
~/Wear my Ed Hardy shirt with fluorescent orange.../~

    The tune is Will Pharrell, the words are Wierd Al, but the voice is all Colette's. It would be harsh to say it's fortunate she stops when she comes through the door, because she's not too bad, but she'd probably be better off singing karaoke than a cappella. "Hi Doctor Fairchild, you wanted a word. I want a coffee. Would you like one?"

    She skips the chair for the moment, heading over to the coffee pot. She gives the coffee a sniff, makes a face, empties it and starts another coffee brewing. "Sam? Yeah. Weird kid. Nice dog though," she says.

    Colette turns from brewing to look at Caitlin. "I'm guessing this is about him visiting the tower? Yeah, Terry sent me a text about that. Bizarre."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"I did like the dog," Caitlin allows, and waits patiently for Colette to set about brewing the coffee. Once the task is completed, Caitlin looks up at the other woman and waits until she has Colette's attention.

"But 'visiting', it was not so much," Caitlin says, wryly. "'Breaking and entering' is more accurate. The Titans have been out of the loop for a long time, and we're only just pulling ourselves back together."

She purses her lips. "And it's not that we don't want to help people. But something about Sam just... I don't know. Makes my hair stand on end. Our security system is pretty top-flight. I helped design and build it," she reminds Colette. "And that's notwithstanding Raven's, um... lack of hospitality," she says, cagily.

"So when a student from the school turns up inside the perimeter, cool as a cucumber... well.' She spreads her hands. "He didn't make it into any of the secure areas, at least, but I'd still like to know how he did what he did. And from the sound of it, you know him better than we do at this point."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    With the coffee brewing, Colette makes a concession to Caitlin's earlier gesture by coming over to sit in the offered chair. It'll take a few minutes to brew, anyway. She sits comfortably and gives Caitlin a look of open curiosity.

    "For the record," she begins, "I did not 'invite' him to the tower. On the contrary, the very last thing I said to him was making it clear to him that I was /not/ recruiting for the Titans. I have mentioned to him that I know a few of you and could arrange an introduction for people who might need such a thing. I'm not quite sure how he managed to misinterpret that so thoroughly."

    Colette tilts her head to the side. "Okay, to be completely fair, I sort of did suggest to Hawkeye that it might be a good idea for her to visit the tower and speak to people. Because I saw her in action, and she's good. She was also on her own doing something dangerous, and needs help. But that's as close as I've got to inviting anyone to the tower."

    She grimaces slightly and rubs the back of her neck. "Well I also suggested to you, Starfire and Wally that it would be a good time for you guys to return to the tower as well, but that's not really the same thing."

    There's a hopeful glance back at the coffee machine to see how it's doing, then Colette shifts in her seat. Legs crossed, arms on lap - it's a posture that Caitlin might recognize as not exactly defensive, but focused. "Honestly doctor Fairchild, I'm not sure what I should tell you. He has said some things to me in confidence. It wouldn't be right for me to share those things with you. What do you know about him already?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Cait lifts her hands a few inches and lets them drop; a quiet mea culpa and apology for misunderstanding Colette's intentions. With the reassurances from the other teacher voiced, Caitlin's demeanour relaxes as well and she shifts in her chair so they're speaking less formally.

"Gosh, you really know everyone," Caitlin says, and dimples appear with a small smile. "You do get around in the community a bit." The smile fades as she considers Colette, then shifts again while weighing her words.

"I'm not trying to flex on your professionalism, Colette," Caitlin assures the other woman. "I'm hoping you can help me fill in some blanks." She purses her lips. "He made a bunch of pretty wild-sounding claims for a teenage kid. That he was being hunted by international terrorists. And he was really cagey about how he bypassed our security. He's always been a little... cocky around the school, but he was pretty stone cold in the Tower."

Caitlin hesitates for a moment, then presses on. "Sam Morgan /did/ break into my home," she points out. "And the first thing he said was 'Colette invited me here'. I'm not trying to pressure you, but I hope you can see my side of things, here. Whatever you can tell me about Sam would be helpful."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette gives a dismissive wave. "I don't know that many people. Running into you here was pure coincidence. I met Terry a while back and he introduced me to Gar. They're my friends. As I told you before, I try to help my friends. It was obvious to me that Gar was struggling and needed you guys back, so I made it my mission to help him. Wally's number was in the phone book. I hired a PI to track down Starfire, though apparently Terry had already talked to her and that was an easy sell."

    Colette gets up and walks back to the coffee machine. It hasn't quite finished yet, but she hovers there for the last moments of brewing. "I take things I am told in confidence very seriously, I'm reluctant to relate anything he has told me. For someone who claims to be hunted by international terrorists, he's uh... rather too free with his secrets. I've tried to point this out to him , but he seems to struggle to get it."

    She turns her back on the coffee, leaning against the table the machine is sitting on to look at Caitlin again. "He has told me a similar story. I don't have your qualifications, but I would guess he has some pretty serious issues with paranoia."

    "That said, I would take his claims seriously, at least in general outline." She tilts her head to the side. "I can tell you from what I have observed rather than what he has said that he is highly trained in combat. Far too well trained, given his age. That's something to consider. As for how he broke through your security. Hmm. Did he mention his 'code-name' to you?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Techno," Caitlin says, nodding. "I reviewed the security footage. I'm guessing he's a hacker?" she hazards. "He just... walked in the front door. Bypassed the--" she hesitates. "Well, put it this way, the system's set up so even I can't just 'walk in'," she explains.

The redhead grimaces at the thought and reachs up to touch her hair. The loose ponytail is pulled through half-curled fingers several times as consternation writes itself on her face. "I admit I haven't spent a ton of time around military types," she concedes. "I've liased with SHIELD and the DEO, but mostly either consulting as a tech or tanking for one of their meta response teams. Sometimes the way he moves, though, it reminds me of the tactical guys. The ones who've seen bad things," she amends. She takes a slow, steadying breath, and rests her hands deliberately in her lap again.

"I guess it comes down to this: I don't think he's honest about much. I don't think he's particularly mentally stable, either," she admits. "But I need to know if in your mind you think he's *dangerous*. Because--" she gestures again, fitfully. "This is getting into some blurred lines between a teacher helping to counsel one of our special needs students, and a student not respecting boundaries. I'm kind of in the dark on how to handle this."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette stares long and hard at Caitlin, eventually turning away, blinking. "Honestly doctor Fairchild, I'm struggling with the same question." She sighs heavily. "He needs to be given a chance. To heal, from whatever has happened to him in his past. I think he needs safety and security to be /able/ to heal, but what about other people's safety and security?"

    "I'm really uncertain what I should tell you. It's been preying on me since the last time I talked with him." She clucks her tongue and puffs her cheeks out. "He's dangerous, certainly. A number of students at the school are. The question is more 'is he unstable' and I'm sorry to say I think he is."

    "Last time I saw him, I tried to give him a warning about his lack of discretion. Not the first time I've given him that warning, but this was a rather more clear and overt warning. He didn't take it well. We were in the computer room at the time, and when he reacted... the lights went out and all the computers switched themselves off. Perhaps that's a little context for you to consider in relation to that code-name."

    Colette shakes her head and turns back to the coffee machine. "Coffee's done. Want some?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin's a little obtuse about some things, but her brain works just fine when given the proper cues. She nods absently at Colette's question, then looks up and smiles apologetically. "Sorry, yes, coffee would be delightful," she agrees, and falls quiet again.

When Colette brings it over, Caitlin accepts with both hands and curls her fingers around the mug. "I think I've heard of that before," she says, finally. "A technopath, right? Like a telepath, but with machines." She clicks her tongue. "Golly, I'd give a kidney for that power. Would make my day job a lot easier," she admits.

That idea's waved off with a blinking headshake and she looks to Colette again. "Listen, I think -you- need to be careful around Sam, too," she advises the other woman with concern. "Sam's a security risk, but I don't think he's an immediate threat to us-- not compared to some of the guys we've taken on before," she amends. "From what I'm seeing and hearing, he's got a lot of indicators of a criminal mentality. I don't know if it's narcissism or sociopathy or PTSD or what," she admits. "It's his mental trait pattern; seeing himself as 'above' the other students, looking at teachers as a peer group. Even breaking into the Tower. We can handle him if we have to, but I worry you're going to come home and find him standing in your apartment to have a 'talk' about your opinion of him. Just..." Lips press into a worried, thin line. "Be careful, okay?"

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette puts her own coffee down and resumes her seat. "I can't confirm to you that he is a technopath," she says carefully. "But my observations would be consistent with that suggestion."

    She places a finger on the edge of her cup, turning the cup slightly from side to side, and puffs her cheeks out again "Damn it Sam, you didn't make this easy," she mutters quietly to herself. The more loudly to Caitlin, "PTSD would be a safe bet. Some kind of narcissistic personality disorder, very likely. He seems to personalize things a lot. Struggles to see the world can function in ways that differ from his direct experience. Psychiatry really isn't my field, I don't quite know what to make of it. He seemed to have difficulty understanding that I'm not some kind of spy or secret agent though."

    There's a pause while coffee is sipped. "I don't think he has a criminal mentality. I think he wants to fight criminals. His methodology might need some... adjustment... though."

    Colette puts her cup down and slumps back her chair, growling slightly. "Fuck. Uh... sorry. Um look, I didn't want to say anything, but I probably should. In the computer room... I showed him some footage I had of him doing things he probably shouldn't have in public. Trying to warn him to be more discreet. He panicked and kinda... tried to attack me. That thing I said with the lights going out. I'm pretty sure he wasn't intending anything lethal. I think for some reason he thought I was threatening him and was just attempting to intimidate me. It was a wierd situation and probably not something that's going to get repeated a lot. I think when he stops and thinks about things he's fine, but his instincts... I'm not sure. I don't /think/ he's a danger to the other students, but it's been eating at me."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin winces at the curse words reflexively, but when Colette lays out the details, she frets her lower lip with an expression of deeper worry. "Yeah, he said... uh, the words 'blackmail' got tossed around with your name," she says, struggling to be diplomatic. "I didn't want to bring it up, because... well, like I said. I can't nail it down if he's a liar or just doesn't see the world the way the rest of us do. I'm not sure which version is more worrying," she allows.

Caitlin shifts as if moving to fuss with her hair again, but the coffee in her hands distracts her when she recalls she's holding the mug. "I think you ought to talk to Mo-- Doctor Macintyre about that incident. I'm not saying it needs to turn into a big deal," she adds, hastily. "If it was a one-time thing where he panicked and lost control of his powers, that's not something he can wholly control. If it's -not- an insolated incident..." She trails off, pointedly. "Y'see what I'm saying? We can't put anyone's safety in jeopardy for him. If he's that much of a loose cannon, then a school environment isn't a safe place to keep him."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette's unusally dark eyes go wide. "Blackmail? That's..." she blinks a few times. "Bizarre." She sits back in her chair, tapping a fingernail on the table top, and shakes her head slightly.

    "That's it then. The footage. That's why he thought I was threatening him in some way when I showed it to him. He must have thought I intended to use it to... damn, that really /is/ paranoid. What would I even want to blackmail him about?"

    She leans forwards, resting her chin on a fist. "Yeah, lost control..." Colette looks conflicted. On the one hand, she really doesn't want to rat on Sam, and if Caitlin thinks he was just losing control of his powers, that works. On the other hand, there was the safety of other students to consider, and Colette has decided to take the whole teaching thing seriously.

    "It probably /was/ an isolated incident," she says with a pained expression. "But he wasn't losing control of his powers. He did it intentionally. He also threw a flash-bang."

    Colette holds a hand up in a stop gesture. "Harmless. Disorienting but harmless, before you freak out. No harm was done, but yeah he really shouldn't have things like that on him in school."

    Colette sits up, picks up her coffee and sighs. "Yeah, I'll talk to Doctor MacIntyre about it," she says.

    Sip.