Log:A Real Family

2020/05/21 Summer Phantom|Travis Tessa Bran 1

After the whole police station thing, Summer retreats to the beach on the island. She's lounging out on a towel near the former fishing village. For the time being, she seems to be soaking up the sun in a surprisingly not racy two-piece bikini.

Travis had to take a long walk afterwards to clear his mind. Or just let it turn off for a while. He'd accidentally run into the strange spirit he'd spent days astrally searching for. Most of that time spent in his bed or in a chair at the group table, spaced out and dead to the world, which has made him rather unaccessible to the team outside of school. He finally makes his way around this part of the island. His hands are stuffed in his pockets. His foot taps against a small rock and he gives it a small kick into the water, then continues on his way. He finally gets close to Summer's sunbathing spot.

"You okay?" inquires Summer, tilting her head. She smiles gently at Travis, the sun not quite reflecting off of her over-sized Aviators as she studies her friend.

"Hm?" Travis' head perks. His eyes wander, having trouble tracking her for a moment before he sees her view of him and is able to make eye contact. A smile begins to grow on his face. "Hey. Yeah. Just getting my thoughts organized. What's up?"

"Needed a break from reality after that... Police station thing."

Summer shrugs up at Travis before she pat-pats the towel beside her. Offering a warm smile, Summer shifts her weight to make some more space for Travis on the towel.

"C'mon. Lay down. Relax."

Travis smiles faintly. "Yeah? Me too." He steps up to her towel and lowers himself down to sit beside her. He lets out a big sigh as he settles, facing the water. His smile grows a little more. "It was a bit...much. I dunno. The other people our age here act like they've never had to struggle a day in their lives. Like they can afford to screw around." His upbringing was psuedo-militant and he was forced to grow up too fast.

"I never -HAD- to struggle a day in my life," replies Summer. She scoots up to a seated position, lightly leaning against his side. Wrapping an arm around Travis' shoulders, Summer half-closes her eyes and relaxes against her friend for the moment. "They've never endured true hardship a day in their lives."

Summer sighs quietly and smiles as she settles in against Travis in the warm, mid-spring sunshine.

"There's a difference."

Travis sighs at Summer's observation and slides an arm around her in return, if only to get his arm out of the way. "You're right." He's silent for a few moments as something rattles around his head. "Why'd you come with us, Summer? Why leave everything behind? You had it better than most of us. Maybe the best out of all of us."

"Did I really though?" is Summer's response. She wraps both arms around Travis' waist, hugging him tight while she buries her face in his neck. Holding him tight, Summer sighs tiredly and nestles against her friend. "I had wealth and fame. You guys are the only family I've ever had that was... You know. A real family."

Travis holds her protectively with one arm, resting his head lightly against hers. He can't help but smile at that. He's struck speechless initially. "Yeah. I know," he says warmly at last. Those words seem to fit. "Hm. We should get the fam together for a dinner or something. Beach barbecue? Fire pit? Sodas and chips?" he suggests.

"Totes a luau," replies Summer. She holds onto Travis, eyes closing entirely as she nestles comfortably with him. The duo are seated on a beach towel near the old fishing village. Of course, Summer's in a bikini and Travis is just in (presumably) street clothes.

"I wasn't ever what my parents expected me to be. You guys were the first friends I had that I could trust. None of you guys wanted anything from me except for me to be me with you. I wasn't just a means to an end for any of you."

"Well...there is -something- we want from you," Travis alludes to deceptively.

Summer and Travis are seated on a beach blanket near the old fishing village. Where Travis is dressed in street clothes, Summer is wearing an unflattering - plain? - two-piece bikini and she looks like she's been here a lot longer than Travis has.

Cocking her head to one side, Summer peers at Travis. "And what's that?"

Travis allows a pause for Summer to worry. "We want you to shine," he finally says with a brotherly smile. "You know. To just be you."

Travis puts it out on the Outworlder wavelength. <>

And, suddenly, a bottle of baby oil appears, held out between the two by a hand. A Tessa hand, even. "For the shine." It waggles side to side some. Then her other hand goes to her ear. >

"You shouldn't be so hard on Evan," chides Summer. Travis gets a light punch on the shoulder as Summer straightens up to look back at Tessa. Offering a sly, playful little smile, Summer inquires, "You going to give me that glow up or just hope it happens?"

Travis sighs gently. "I'm -not-. Am I? I know he likes his alone time. Maybe a little too much. He thinks you and I shouldn't talk to him at school anymore to keep up our reps." He looks to Tessa and chuckles.

"Hard about what?" Tessa wonders, then blinks at Summer. That and maybe the bottle had a bit out of it and was slippery, as she drops it. *THID* It lands on the blanket and sinks a little into the sand/dirt under. It's baby oil, not nitroglycerin.

"He's been watching too many high school movies," scoffs Summer. Travis gets punched in the shoulder again, though this time is a noticeably solid impact. Warning shots from the former (alternate) reality tv star. "Hard time about being an introvert, Tess."

Bran is out and about...exploring the area, since he's still new. He comes down from the MagLev station and looks around, starting to wander onto the beach.

Travis rocks with the punch as he plays along, then holds his arm and rubs it, chuckling. "Ow. I said I respect his choice to not hang out. There's nothing wrong with being an introvert," he says defensively, his voice carrying a bit as Bran draws near.

Bran's attention is drawn by Travis's voice, which he recognizes. He thinks about it for a moment...and then steels himself before he walks over in that direction.

Travis senses someone's approach, but it takes a moment before he recognizes the mind. He smiles. <> He picks up the bottle and turns to hold it out back to Tessa when Bran gets into his sightline. He pretends to just notice him now and smiles, waving him over. "Hey, Bran!" he calls out. "What up, bro?"

Bran brushes his hair out of his eyes and he smiles, "Hey, Travis. I was just wandering. Seeing the island, since I hadn't been out here yet. Surprised to run into you." He continues walking closer, and finds it a little slow going. Boots in sand...are not ideal. Eventually he gets into easy talking distance, though.

Summer picks up the dropped bottle. Climbing to her feet, Summer smiles and waves to the approaching Bran.

"Hey there! I'll be, like, right back."

Promptly Summer goes jogging off toward the fishing village.

Travis is in a black t-shirt and jeans with hightop kicks. Not ideal for the sand either. Summer has more sense. And Tessa? Well, she's not exactly impeded by any of that. He lets Bran get a bit closer. "You found a good spot. It gets quiet this time of day over here sometimes. It's a good getaway from all the crowds." He waves to Summer as she heads for supplies.

Bran nods. "Far side of town from where I live, so it'll be hard to get over here. Well...harder. But yeah, it feels nice and secluded." He looks around just to see how many people are around in addition to the group.

Travis smiles at that. "If it were easy to get to, it wouldn't be so secluded, right?" he says. There are some people walking further up the beach, but the boardwalk is the main attraction for crowds. It's more locals out this way. "We were thinking of doing a bonfire night sometime. Hot dogs, sodas. You're welcome to come if you want."

Bran thinks about it. "Yeah, sure, that sounds like fun. Thanks. I appreciate it." He wonders what the likelihood of there being alcohol. He initially thought that's waht the bottle was that was being tossed around.

Upon closer inspection, it's a bottle of tanning oil. Much less exciting. Travis grins. "Cool. I'll text you a time and place once we have an idea of what to do." He watches Tessa pardon herself to go after Summer for girls stuff. With the two of them alone, Travis lowers his voice and looks back to Bran. "How's it going with the other stuff?" he taps his temple.

Bran takes a seat. "Umm...so far, so good. Well, aside from getting shot by Next Generation. They tried to kidnap me, and a bunch of local heroes showed up to save me. Including another mentalist. Phantom." He pauses, and then adds, "I helped them deal with this...demon guy who had kind of taken control of some of the kids on your football team. That's what that arrest was about. Partially."

Travis's eyes widen a bit. So he did notice. Of course he did. He turns a bit towards Bran, wondering if he should confide in him. "Shick, the assistant coach thing. Yeah, that's all over the school now," he says with his hands resting on his knees. "So...does this make you a ro now?"

Bran laughs at the idea of being a hero. "I guess? I don't know. I don't really feel like it. Not yet." He looks out at the water. "It felt good to help. But old habits die hard. Or so my sister says."

"Well," Travis thinks a bit and looks out to the water as well. "Give it a few more tries and see how it feels." His finger taps on his knee as he weighs his options. If he doesn't tell Bran and he finds out later, it'd probably make things worse. And Bran did confide in him first. "It might keep feeling good. And then who knows...?"

Bran smiles, "Yeah...maybe. It's be nice to be on the straight and narrow." He pauses again, and then adds, "At my old school, I ran with a bad crowd. Booze. Drugs. The whole nine. I'm trying to...uh...turn over a new leaf while I can."

Travis smiles. "Well, I respect that. And I'll try to support that if I can." He looks troubled and finally makes up his mind. "Hey, bro...I should probably tell you something. I can trust you, right? I mean, you trusted me with your secret, after all. I figure you'd be able to keep mine."

Bran smiles slightly, "If it's that you're gay, that's cool. I don't really have a problem with that."

Travis blinks in surprise. "Whoa, uhh...no. No-no, that wasn't--" he waves his hands quickly. "Not that there's anything...do I give off that vibe?"

Bran chuckles. "Not especially, no. But I was just guessing about the secret.

Travis lets out a breath in a huff. "Hahah, well. I'm still glad to know you're okay with that." He relaxes and smiles. "Uh, I didn't figure a good time to talk to you about it before. Not without invading your privacy and such. But...umm." His friends are going to kill him if he's wrong about Bran. "Just between us...I'm...I'm Phantom," he confesses with difficulty.

Bran blinks and looks at Travis. "Huh. That's cool. It's nice to know I'm not the THIRD kid with the same power set." He chuckles, "I kind of figured that you were two separate people. How do you do the...shadow thing and hide who you are?"

Travis smiles. "Okay, you're taking this well. Crash. I try to keep my real powers a secret. People tend to shoot the mentalist first. I used to go by Synapse, but that was so on the nose, vils knew who to shoot. So...now I go by Phantom and keep my full abilities vague." He looks about, but it's broad daylight and there's too many people in the general vicinity. "It's a mind trick. Psionic energy."

Bran blinks. "Psionic? Really? Crash. Maybe I can learn to do more tricks than what I know now. I'm all...well, kind of brute force."

"With some training, I bet you totes can. It took me a while to get to where I am today. But I got my powers when I was really young," Travis admits. His light expression dims a bit. "Hey, so...that demon guy got away from the cops. And those guys who shot you? They're still on the loose. There was a meeting today, and one of the teen ros there said they knew you from school. I think they want to ask you to be bait to lure them out."

Bran looks surprised. "That's a lot to take in. The demon guy managed to get away?" He shakes his head slowly. "And who wants me to be bait for those guys?"

"I think it was a guy called Riptide. I was suggesting we get a shapeshifter to stand in for one of the targets so we could set a trap, but...somehow people took that as, 'Let's put the actual targets in danger' strategy," Travis rubs the back of his head, looking awkward and a bit put off.

Bran thinks about it for a moment. "I can see a benefit to doing it both ways...as long as the kidnapper types are not killing anyone. I mean...if Heather was the target, I think she's tougher than I am."

Travis shrugs up his shoulders. "She...kind of walked out on the meeting with the detective who was telling us stuff, so I don't know if she's going to help. She seems to get upset pretty easy. I mean, so far she's seemed to have some sort of connection with the people who got targeted so far, or was there when it happened. When I suggested that she seemed to be a common link, rather than try and see if that was maybe their angle, she got all anxed about it."

Travis points out, "Or I should say...when Phantom suggested it. She doesn't know me at all."

Bran chuckles. "Ah. That makes sense. You were there as a hero, right?" He tilts his head, "I think I'm a bad choice for bait. Don't get me wrong...I'm happy to help. But I'm just...a normal kid. I'm not overly tough. Whoever it is should be able to take a shot like the one I got hit with."

Travis nods. "Yeah, she only knows me as a hero." He smiles. "No anx, thought I appreciate you being happy to help. I figured based on our past talks, it may not be a good idea to put you out there like that. I agree on the shapeshifter. I just thought you should know, one of the other teenaged heroes may ask you. I don't exactly see eye to eye with some of them. This is one of those instances that I don't agree with their call."

Bran shrugs, "Some disagreement is fine. It was a cop who set up the meeting? Who was it?"

Travis rubs his chin and thinks. "Uhhh, a detective. Named like the movie directer. Carpenter?"

Bran shakes his head, "I don't know the name." He rubs the side of his face. "Do I need to talk to him? Or am I likely to hear from him?"

Travis looks surprised. "You mean you haven't heard from him already? They said the police were reaching out to people on the list. I think three people went missing over the break. We're trying to find 'em. I assumed they talked to you already. Or maybe they got your sister on the phone?"

Bran shakes his head, "I spoke to a uniformed cop, not a detective. If he stopped by, she likely talked to him."

"Oh, gotcha. Well...maybe you should talk to him? I mean, they may be able to offer some protection while this stuff is going down?" Travis suggests.

Bran nods. "They're already doing that. Well, in theory. If I hadn't avoided htem when I left work." He chuckles.

Travis chuckles. "Ditchin' the law? I thought you were trying to start fresh," he jokes.

Bran snorts, "I also said, 'Old habits die hard', right?"

"You did," Travis grins. "Well, the good news is you aren't in trouble."

Travis snaps his fingers as he suddenly remembers. "Hey, are you on HeroNet? Or did that eccentric rich lady suddenly show up and give you a radio?"

Bran blinks. "A radio? No. And...HeroNet? What's that?"

Travis grins. "You lucked out. Me and some other teenaged heroes had the same weird experience you did at the mansion. We didn't know we were known, and got a weird invite to a building owned by this woman, Ms. Steinberg. Kind of eccentric. She gave us all encrypted radios," he takes out his from his pocket and shows Bran. "She listens in on the band, so I make sure to take the battery out when I'm not using it sometimes. But it's got an encrypted channel so we can call in backup from other people our age," he explains. "And HeroNet is this free website. Kind of like social media for heroes. I got a weird invite to it out of the blue."

Bran chuckles. "I...don't trust adults that easily. So...yeah. I'm not going to hang out at that mansion any time soon. But this HeroNet sounds interesting. I mean, I guess I helped enough with that demon guy to count as a hero."

"Me neither. Some of the teen ros seem to want to run back to the grownups before things even get tough," Travis smirks a bit. He shrugs about HeroNet. "You can login anywhere and get alerts on your phone when something's up. Or put up a post to get help or text heroes direct. I haven't figured out all the features yet."

Bran shakes his head, "I'm sure some of hte adults know what they're doing. I just...well...it feels weird to have stuff get offered out of the blue. I'll look into HeroNet, though. I suspect I can get it set up."

"Glad I'm not the only one that things there's a catch," Travis chuckles. "It feels like it'd be easy for a vil to lure people in with the offer of free stuff. We thought the mansion was a death trap."

Bran snorts again, "There's always a catch."

Travis nods. "Yeah. Just gotta find out what. We still think there's something up with that place. We just gotta dig a bit deeper. We're making sure to watch what we say if we got there."

Bran shrugs, "The catch might just be...being watched all the time."

"Oh yeah, they did say there were security cameras," Travis recalls. "Gives me the creeps."

Bran says, "Well, it's a mansion. It'll have cameras."

Travis chuckles. "Yeah, that's...a good point, actually. They'd probably be pissed if we spraypainted over the lenses, huh?"

Bran nods. "I would be. That is expensive. I know a little bit about that kind of thing. They're really pricy. Or can be."