840/Let's Try Again With Less Stabbing

Let's Try Again With Less Stabbing
Date of Scene:	29 March 2020
Location:	Library - Happy Harbor High School
Synopsis:	Colette and Damian talk Titans, and it's clear they're talking about different things.
Cast of Characters:	Damian Wayne, Colette O'Connail

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Damian Wayne has posed:
     Spring Break was a hallowed time for some of the students. But considering Damian's schedule, and classes, he was less occupied with vacations than most. With Sam out of the picture this weekend, he had been left with a full library and no one in it. It may as well have been heaven.

  The young teen was sitting in the same table the three had already had their earlier chat, away from the cameras. Books had been stacked around him, mostly nonfiction, reference texts. Boring to most, but for Damian, it was the most interesting of subjects.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Spring Break has ended and Happy Harbor is coming to life again. Back to the grindstone for students and staff. Colette's version of spring break involved an argument between Russian and Ukrainian gangsters, trying to find a home for an alien, and facing a dangerous and somewhat demonic sorceress. In other schools this would be less common. For Happy Harbor it probably counts as pretty standard couple of weeks.

    Now it's back to the grindstone. The normal, mundane, everyday processes of schooling. There are lesson plans to work on. Admittedly the lesson plans she's been working on are not entirely mundane, and nor do they entirely correspond to the intentions she's claiming to Doctor MacIntyre. For Colette, Happy Harbor offers recruitment possibilities, if she can just figure out the best way to manage those possibilities. She has been sitting in another part of the library, quietly working away for the last hour or so, but she's content for now. Laptop stowed in her bag, she makes her way out of the labyrinth of stacks.

    Her footsteps are virtually the only sound in the library, but in the silence there is the sound of a page being turned, and Colette decides to investigate. She turns a familiar corner, and stops at the sight of Damian. "Ah. I thought I was alone here. Hello Damian. Taking advantage of the quiet before the storm to do some reading? Good, you'll learn more here than you will in lessons. Did you enjoy the prom?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian's reading interrupted, it already has him miffed a bit. "What gave you that idea?" He asked, gesturing to all of the texts in front of him. "I have already learned more than classes can teach me." He comments very plainly.

  Then the question about prom, that took him just a bit longer to answer. Would he actually admit he had a fun time? "Yes, I did." As much as it was unlike him, he was capable of having a fun time with his peers.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette nods her head at Damian's response. She was there. She saw. It's hardly unexpected. It's his previous comment she responds to directly though. "Yes. It's annoying being expected to attend classes you don't feel can teach you anything new. Especially as if you attempt explaining to the teachers that you already know what they're teaching they usually take it badly. I don't imagine that's really why you're attending this school though."

    Annoyingly for Damian's desire to be left alone to read, Colette seems to be showing no immediate signs of leaving him in peace. She puts her bag down on the table and leans against a shelf. "If you're /really/ smart, you treat it as something more akin to an experience in sociological observation. Seeing how people interact. How they behave in groups. It gives you a better insight into how minds other than your own work. There are things you can only learn by observing and indeed participating. Sometimes you have to put up with a lot of... nonsense. To be able to observe these things properly."

    Colette arches an eyebrow slightly. "For example that homework task I set you. I imagine you considered that nonsense. Not worth your time. Sam did his. I learned an interesting thing from what he wrote. He studiously avoided mentioning any observations he'd made that were not explicitly obvious. If he was more flexible he'd have mentioned some, so that I wouldn't know whether he was holding back or not. Instead he told me quite quite a bit about how regimented his thinking is. Just like you not bothering to do yours told me some interesting things about your thinking."

    There's the faintest hint of a smile. "Did it occur to you that you could have been barred from attending the prom for failing to do that assignment? I'm sure you wouldn't have been happy had I chosen to go that route. "

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Shades of red start growing on Damian's face, anger growing. "If you think you can shame me, you have another thing coming." He states, before looking off to the side.

  His hands clenched into fists at his side, another on the closed book he sat with. "I did not even want to go until..." Something he didn't want to admit to himself, but he kept on, powering through his own inhibition. "Until Sam asked me."

  The young assassin stood up, getting close to her. "Does it amuse you? To goad me as you do? Am I just your plaything? Because I can change that in the blink of an eye." His toe had already been caressing the side of the latch in his shoe, he would never admit to it, but it comforted him to know he could at any point press that latch and put would spring a very thin, very sharp knife, ready for him to use at any moment.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    There's the faintest shake of her head before she replies. "I think I shamed you the first time we met, though it was hardly my intention. I was just speaking the simple truth. Honestly Damian, do you disagree? As for goading you... maybe. Because apparently you've decided that being a gun isn't enough, and that interests me. I want to know if you've got what it takes to be more than that, because I think you have the potential to be a /lot/ more than that."

    Colette shifts her weight a little as Damian approaches. There are no fast movements, just a slight rebalancing of her body position. It doesn't read as a combat stance. The space between then is opened slightly, but there's no obvious attempt to put herself in a position that would allow for a better angle of attack, or defense. It doesn't seem like a fighter's move.

    "When I kicked the table, you adjusted your balance instantly." Her lips curl up into a smile. There's no sense of mockery behind it, more like genuine pleasure. "It slowed you by a fraction, but not nearly as much as it should have. Didn't put you off your aim. I was seriously impressed. So I can't help wondering what you could do if you stopped to think things through more. If you didn't act on orders, or on emotion, but on careful, precise judgement. So forget that homework assignment. What did you observe about me when we met on the rooftop? What information did you gain then that you should have thought about last time we met in the library, but didn't?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian backs himself off a little. Only because Colette did slightly. "You say I never thought about it." He turns and sits back down. "I had gauged that you would most likely not do...whatever it is you did on the rooftop, in the library. Giving me an advantage to strike before you could second guess yourself."

  "Every action I do, apart from...incidents on the dance floor are calculated. You know who I am, and who I was. That in of itself is a liability. One I should have reconciled."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
"Where do you keep your knife?" Colette's voice whips out. "Ankle, shoe? What makes you think what I did on the rooftop is all I can do? I already had my weapon pointed at your chest. And if it wasn't for the fact that I have a lot more self-control these days than I used to, there would have been small pieces of Damian decorating the shelves before you could have reached it." Her voice softens very suddenly. "But... I wanted to give you a chance."

    "And I want you to give me a chance, too. Because I'd like to see a Damian who is much more than a gun."

    "So..." Colette tilts her head a little, and gives a slight nod to Damian. An acknowldegement of... something. "So we both know things about each other we'd probably prefer the other doesn't know. That's life, but I have no intention of telling anyone what I saw. I'm not interested in your past, Damian. I'm only interested in your future. So how about we press the restart button on this whole thing and see if we can figure out how knowing each other can be a benefit rather than a pain in the ass, hmm?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian stretches out his left leg, foot pointed right up. Out of the sole of his sneaker, popped a thin blade. Then with a swift click, it retreats and latches back.

  Damian's green eyes pierce back to Colette. Trust, for him was in extremely short supply. "Then what exactly do you want?" He reaches to the table and presses an imaginary button.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette glances at the blade and nods her head slowly. "Obviously I didn't see that, because that's thoroughly against school rules and if I had seen it I'd have to confiscate it. Don't make me regret not seeing it, please."

    "What I want?" She shrugs her shoulders expansively. "So many things. But it's all about compromises, and the best compromise I can think is that I want people like you to have every opportunity to become what I hope you are able to become. People are shortsighted, and I want to try to correct that. I want to find people who have the capability to make a difference to the world, to be a new generation of heroes, who can figure out for themselves how to do it right, rather than just following in the footsteps of those who have gone before and repeating the same mistakes. I want to help get the Titans started up again, and to find people who are capable, flexible and eager, to join them. "

    "Does that interest you?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian watches as Colette goes on, shrugging at the knife comment. "I don't know what you're talking about."

  He returns to listening intently on Colette's words. Up until she talks about the Titans. Before he starts to laugh, and laugh, and laugh. Luckily, there was no one in the library currently.

  It was quite likely the first time anyone in this hemisphere had seen him laugh.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette raises both eyebrows, giving Damian an amused look. It wasn't exactly the reaction she was expecting, but the incongruity of the ever-so-serious boy laughing like that makes the laugh somewhat infectious, and she she can't help give a small chuckle of her own.

    "I guess you think I'm being over-ambitious," she says. It's a fair assumption from Damian's reaction, for someone who doesn't know who Damian's eldest adoptive brother really is, or of the dossiers Damian has been poring over so diligently. "I know. The Titans is broken. They've all gone their separate ways, and none of them have any interest in starting things up again. Yes, everyone knows that. Any suggestion that some high school Teaching Assistant could somehow wave a wand and change that is far of the mark. "

    Colette gives an easy shrug. "Yet what everyone knows isn't true any more. It's already happening, Damian."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     The black haired boy keeps on laughing, less now than he had been. By now his complexion had glistened just a tinge with sweat.

  "You, you're a Titan?" He keeps chuckling, pulling out his book bag. Bringing up his tablet, and flicking it to show his Titans dossier.

  He scoots it on the table, it was pulled up to Nightwing's personal notes on each Titan. "Take a look at that and tell me what you think, Titan." He says, his tone just a tinge condescending. "Go ahead, ask me how I have that."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    When Damian asks her if she's a Titan, it's Colette's turn to laugh. "Me? God no, where did you get that idea from? I told you, I wanted to help them get back together, not to be one. I'm not a hero, Damian. I'm a TA. I told you that already."

    Colette still laughing a little when she spins the tablet around and starts reading it. The laugh fades, and she flicks through rapidly, going backwards and forwards. Her eyes go up to meet Damians, one brow arched, then back down to read more. "Well. This /is/ interesting," she says more calmly. "...If a little impersonal. And..." she looks up at Damian again, dark eyes meeting bright. "...outdated. Garfield is... hmm. Growing up. And Raven's shell has cracked, just a little."

    Colette spins the tablet around again and slides it back to him. "And of course there's the more important question of who the /next/ Titans will be. I don't see that addressed here. So how /do/ you have that?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian holds his palms up, on retort to the questions that Colette brings. "That is because that is here." He taps the side of his head.

  Damian stands up, and puts his hands flat on the table, leaning on it as he peers to Colette. "It way given to me, by Nightwing himself. You did not think that a high school that teaches metas how to integrate into society wouldn't attract an eye from the big guns? The remaining members of the Justice League? The Avengers? And what do you think would be the best way to observe what goes on here, than a student."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette can't help a little smirk. "I'd say a TA was a pretty good option for observing what goes on here," she says. "And I hope you're not forgetting SHIELD, they have their fingers all over this place too. Actually I heard about this place through Captain Marvel, though that wasn't exactly her intent."

    "In your head," Colette repeats. She leans back against the bookcase and stares at Damian long and hard, as if trying to see what he's keeping in there. "You and Sam are the obvious options. Both of you have experience that is sorely missing in most candidates, and are both highly skilled. I have concerns about your personalities though. A good team isn't just about skills, it's about meshing personalities. There are a few other possibilities at this school, but so far only you two moved beyond my watch list and onto my candidates list. Hawkeye two point oh. She's very capable, skilled. But headstrong. A little like you maybe. Less experienced though, she needs to improve her tactical awareness. There's a couple of others she knows, she was angling for a kind of junior Avengers thing, but I haven't had the opportunity to assess them yet. There are a couple of wildcards... one already in place, but I only know what he's capable of physically, not whether he has the right mindset for it. Another who... hmm. Very wildcard. He's in the right place, but I'm not sure what he actually is yet."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     "An archer?" Damian says very plainly, looking at Colette as if she just passed gas. "This is not the Middle Ages. Besides, I can bullseye an arrow at 10 yards with a blindfold on."

  "Of course I don't forget SHIELD, I simply think they are a bunch of..." He holds himself, reminded of whom Sam works for, keeping himself from saying something he may regret.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Most, but not all," is what Colette has to say to Damian's assessment of SHIELD. "As for the archer, you may be as good at hitting a bullseye for all I know, but can you fire two arrows at once? Are you going to say there's no place for Sam because your skillsets overlap so much?"

    Colette gives a short shake of her head. "I saw her take out a Russian mob hit team on a stairway assault. She's skillful. I'm not sure how she would have handled the room clearing alone and with a bow, but it didn't come to that. Evaluate people on personal observation, Damian. Not on a spec sheet.

    Colette nods her head in the direction of Damian's tablet. "Which brings me back to that... Nightwing gave it to you. I'm under the impression that he has no intention of going back to the Titans. So he gave you that to read through, to be his what... understudy?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
     "Why the hell would someone shoot two arrows at once? They do not change course in the air.". Apparently the kid never saw Men in Tights.

  "Sam has multiple skill sets that prove useful. But making yourself known as an archer? I'm unimpressed."

  "He wants me to lead them. To raise them up again to be what they should be. Not ensconced in the past."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
"Two targets, Damian." Colette puffs her cheeks out, and gives a shake of her head. She obviously thinks she shouldn't have to say this. "Two people can fire two arrows at two targets. Or one can be scaling a wall while the other is picking off guards. What you can do on your own is of minimal interest when you're talking about a /team/. If you can replace her archery, who replaces what /you/ should be doing? Don't judge someone based on their headlines, find out what they are capable of - and who they are."

    "Not ensconced in the past. Well, that's a solid aim." Colette leans forwards, one hand resting on the table, the other tapping Damian's tablet. "And that's what you've got there. The past. If Nightwing isn't in the Titans any more, then what he wants and what he offers you is worth precisely fuck all. You want to lead them? Good. You're going to have to prove to them that you /can/ lead them, Damian. That means knowing them. Not this. Not what Nightwing wrote down for you to study, mostly three years out of date. Who were you three years ago, Damian? How smart would it be for someone to treat you as if you are the same person now? As far as I can see you're not the same person you were three /weeks/ ago."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian's brow furrows and searches through one of the stacks behind his chair, pulling it out and sliding it to Colette. 'Physics for Plebeians' "I suggest you read that. Because you cannot shoot two arrows from one bow at two targets that are not vertically aligned. That would be like bending a bullet's trajectory mid-air around a circular room. You may want to have your blood screened for hallucinogenic compounds because physics does NOT work that way." Obviously he has to think she was high to have witnessed such things.

  "Quit jumping around the topic, woman. You want to say you don't think I can lead them!" He says, standing, all four foot six inches of his stature. "It was a primer to give me as much information as he could." He comments, in a much lessened tone, taking his seat again as he settled down.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Seriously," Colette asks with a laugh. "Do you want me to dig up 'Maths for toddlers'? Two people can fire two arrows from two bows. Do I have to spell this out? It doesn't matter if your skills overlap with someone else on a team, because two people can be doing different things. Two archers can shoot at two targets. One archer, however good, can only shoot at one. That's what a team is /for/, Damian."

    Colette gives Damian space and time to make his stand-up declaration, and even refrains from pointedly looking down on the tiny teen while he does so, though it takes some effort. She waits for him to settle down again. "Wrong, I don't make that kind of judgement without more information. I don't /know/ whether you can lead them, Damian. I hope you can, because they're going to need someone who can. Have you ever lead a team of people who weren't just... guns? People are messy. People are complex. People are irrational. They don't just snap to attention because someone has been placed in a position of authority. They listen to you if they /respect/ you, and if you go in thinking you can show them how skilled you are and they'll respect you for that, you're going to be in for a big shock. The way you're acting now? No. No you can't lead them. Not unless you're willing to learn to make compromises, because compromise is how you lead /people/, rather than weapons."

    "Look, don't get me wrong." Colette shakes her head and spreads her hands out, a gesture of compromise. "I'm sure he's done his best to give you the information he thinks you need. But you're facing a host of unknowns, and if you go in with a superior attitude and the certainty you know everything, you're not going to be crowned leader of the Titans, you're going to be /laughed at/. I'm not trying to knock you back, Damian. I'm trying to help."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     "Compromise is a two way street." Damian says, plainly and with conviction, crossing his arms. "That should also be clear." Yup, he's not going to be a happy camper anytime soon.

  In fact, he's already quite in a storm cloud of his own funk for a bit of time. "My entire life, I worked hard for everything I had. So do not think I haven't paid my fucking dues. I paid with my blood."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "It is a two way street," Colette agrees. "But you're talking about people who have no reason yet to think that you're worth giving anything to. You need to show them that first. And don't expect them to give a fuck about what you've paid in the past until you give a fuck about what /they/ have paid. "

    Colette gives out a long slow sigh and takes a seat, across the table from Damian. She leans her chin on her hands and looks at him, watching him stew. "Everything worth having is something you have to work hard for, Damian. What you've done in the past, and the price you've paid in the past... that might get your foot in the door, but it's not going to get you everything you want. You're still going to have to work for that. Still going to have to make sacrifices. Don't make it harder for yourself by expecting people to fall into line."

Damian Wayne has posed:
     "And yet I have to bend over backwards." He scoffs, loudly. "You are not talking about a team. You are talking about hobbling me."

  He stands, and starts heads out of the library. "I do not need your help. I will get it done myself."