Fun In the Sun (IC)

[Fox]

Jessica watched Dragonfly's suit transform with an expression of frank regard. "Very nice," she complemented. "Never mastered the small changes, myself."

Dragonfly frowned a bit, adjusting one of her gauntlets. "Cheated," she admitted. "Normally can only change between normal clothes and costume - so put this on as 'normal clothes', then changed into the armor. Had to adapt visor and gauntlets from prototype versions - not as powerful, but made them water-safe and sandproof. Would have to change back into armor to be any good in a fight, though."

"Well, I guess it's my responsibility to help you out with that," he sighed to her girlfriend with exaggerated weary resignation. "Work work work work work."

She'd pulled her own little bottle of sunscreen out of her dimensional pocket when Jessica had gone to the basket to offer protection to the others; the young engineer was trying awfully hard to keep a straight face as her gauntlets unlatched themselves to get set down in the sand for a moment. "Can probably get most of myself," she reassured her girlfriend, starting to spread lotion on her own arms. "But might need help with my shoulders and where the swimsuit doesn't cover on my back. Have to make sure no spots are missed, and all."

[Quinn]

Push followed up behind the band of fellows, quite quiet as the chili pot and other stuff floated beside him. To those who knew him from 'on the job', that was actually rather surprising, normally he was quite verbose when fighting bad guys. His eyes flicked to person after person somewhat surreptitiously (lingering on Miss de Havilland for a few seconds longer than he should have, and he gave himself a mental slap), and he logged away names and descriptions for future reference. Templar's area was quite acceptable, and Jessica's request quite reasonable, and he nodded politely to both, motioning for Templar to make with the magic mojo.

[KnightDisciple]

CT spent a few moments examining the area where they would be setting up cooking. He held his hands up a few times, using them as impromptu "frames" on his vision of the area. Finally, he gave a resolute nod.

"Everyone, stand back. This is going to get a little hot."

With that, fire flew from his outstretched ring. At first, it simply pushed the sand around, forming it into vague shapes. But then, it started to heat up. In the space of a minute, it was seemingly hot enough to start to melt the glass, and it was getting still hotter.

Within 5 minutes, there was a fully-formed cooking area, with a solid circle of black and brown glass holding several solid blocks that they could set things like the grill, pots, food, and so forth on. There was room for 3 or 4 people to prepare food at the same time on the space. It shimmered with heat for a minute, but was quickly cooled down.

Meanwhile, CT dusted his hands off and crossed his arms over his chest with a lopsided smile.

"I watch those home improvement shows sometimes. I get ideas. Best part is, I'll just grind it up when we're done, it'll be nearly the same as it was."

With that, he turned...and saw Doctor de Havilland standing not far away. He was frozen in indecision for a few moments, before he squared his shoulders (an impressive sight on someone of his build) and walked over with a smile. He offered the long-haired-heroin a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Doctor de Havilland. I'm Cobalt Templar, but today you can just call me CT. It's nice to meet you."

He hoped the mask was enough. Once pleasantries were exchanged, he walked over to Jill, Dragonfly, and Jessica, all laying out on the sand. He gave them a slightly bemused smirk.

"See? I can be handy to have around. You girls want me to renovate this area a little, or leave it as-is? And don't worry about sunscreen for me. I don't really sunburn these days."

[Quinn]

Push's eyes lit up as he saw his new kitchen, and he looked at the large pile of cooking equipment and supplies sitting right near him. Grills, pots, pans, more than enough food to cook, a low block to use for soda mixes (no alcohol, of course) and places for his knives and other gear (oh yes, he had come very well prepared for this). The kineicist cracked his knuckles, and anyone who was looking at him could easily see that he was grinning very broadly underneath his bandanna.

"Oh yes. Oh yes indeed. I can work with this."

He turned and held up his hands, looking at the supplies. The grill floated up and over, and he moved his hands like a conductor as a small storm of warps and crackling energy began ferrying objects over right behind it. Push even began humming as he manipulated his fingers, objects shifting into place; the grill landed neatly on one of the more predominant blocks, Nick's cooler opened and bottles floated out, landing in ascending size along the long low block right at the edge of the platform, the pots and pans landed on another block and food ingredients as well. Sandwiches landed on platters and platters landed on easily accessible blocks as Push hopped up onto the platform, weaving his arms hither and thither, quite focused and still humming. The knives and a cutting board landed on a block right beside the grill, another cooler filled with ice landed beside the previous platform with cans and the like inside.

He lifted his arms up and down, and the huge chili pot zoomed up into the air and around, landing in the centre of the platform with a thump; the ingredients for the aforementioned chili right around it. A quick flick of the fingers, and one last object floated up from a box; an apron. He caught it in one hand as everything settled, and tied it around his waist, then took a bow. And then caught himself, righting his back and rubbing his head in a somewhat embarassed manner.

"Err...pardon my enthusiasm."

[Gizmo]

"Figures you'd be used to the sun, helpin' Ma and Pa around the farm all day, hmm?" Jill teased CT dryly as he approached. Her deadpan might have made it difficult to tell if she was joking if they hadn't already established that their conversations consisted almost entirely of her poking good-natured fun at the imposing underclassman. Retrieving a dab of sunscreen from the bottle Dragonfly had produced, she began applying it to her girlfriend's neck and the exposed portions of her back and shoulders, massaging it in a little more slowly and thoroughly than was probably strictly necessary. "So, how've you been?" she asked CT absently before she could become too distracted. "Classes going alright?"

[Lone Star]

Warlock, awkwardly stretching his arms to get his back sunscreened, stopped to give Push and CT a round of applause. "Bravo, friends. That was...quite impressive and creative, Templar. It's certainly less chaotic than what normally happens when you use your powers, Push." he said with a wink. "And I do appreciate the Fantasia reference too. Remember when we were fixing up Lair and I made the mops start dancing? I think I'm better at it now!"

He stood up, and shook out his towel. Taking a moment to crack his neck and knuckles, he gestured at the towel. It rose up, and beneath the towel an invisible human form seemed to guide it. It walked towards CT's homemade kitchen, and took a pot. "Oh no."

It walked towards the ocean, and filled the pot with ocean water, and poured it on the beach as if to clean it. "No, no no! Why do they always do the same thing?!" He scrambled towards the towel to subdue it.

[Fox]

Dragonfly gave the glass kitchen an appreciative eye - clever - likely to draw attention - but inventive - useful - responsible to have first considered reversing the process - and would probably have commented if Jill's hands hadn't reduced her to a contented look and barely-audible inarticulate appreciative noises in embarrassingly little time. She did, at least, crack an almost-closed eye back open to watch Warlock chase his...towel?...toward the ocean as it tried to clean the beach of sand. "If they were robots," she pointed out to no one in particular, "would know why they malfunctioned. Eventually. Less mystery."

[Raveled]

Jessica glanced at Jill and Dragonfly, wishing that Blake had enough presence of mind to copy them. She applied the tan lotion herself though, as well as she could, watching Corbin and Tom build the glass kitchen and get to work. Watching the kineticist work was a joy, even if Push seemed more self-conscious than usual. She was actually feeling a little silly herself, as she and Blake were the only ones not wearing masks or costumes of some kind.

She leaned back on her towel, propping herself up to watch her boyfriend chase the ambulatory linen down. "I don't know," she said suddenly, evidently in reply to Dragonfly's comment. "If they were robots, there'd be crushing treads and laser eyes. Worst this, uh, poltergeist is going to do is rust out the bottom of the pot." The young woman laid back entirely, crossing her legs and closing her eyes, evidently enjoying the hot sun. "Not, you know, set fire to stuff."

[trollthumper]

Eric watched as the towel took the pot into the surf. With a quick gesture, an ectoplasmic hand briefly rose out of the surf and tossed the pot back his way. He looked down at the chili, just to make sure; sure enough, it was still in the pot and still looked wholesome. Good. Last thing I want is a repeat of the Charlotte slaughterhouse incident.

"Well, magic's strange like that," he said to Dragonfly. "In the wrong places, under the wrong conditions, it can go just a little chaotic. When you're doing minor conjuring, it's usually not much worse than someone trying to do their washing in the lake. When you're throwing about the big stuff, however, or trying to bind something hostile, then you've gotta watch out. Or the consequences could be... messy."

[KnightDisciple]

"Figures you'd be used to the sun, helpin' Ma and Pa around the farm all day, hmm?" Jill teased CT dryly as he approached. Her deadpan might have made it difficult to tell if she was joking if they hadn't already established that their conversations consisted almost entirely of her poking good-natured fun at the imposing underclassman. Retrieving a dab of sunscreen from the bottle Dragonfly had produced, she began applying it to her girlfriend's neck and the exposed portions of her back and shoulders, massaging it in a little more slowly and thoroughly than was probably strictly necessary. "So, how've you been?" she asked CT absently before she could become too distracted. "Classes going alright?"

Suddenly, CT's stood there in beat-up coveralls (no shirt underneath), a straw hat, barefoot, and a long toothpick in his mouth; his mask was, of course, still on his face. He gave Jill a cheeky grin, and his next words had a noticeable Southern drawl to them.

"Well, you know how I am, Jill. My Ma and Pa make me work for my grits and greens. Tan all day down in the holler."

He shifts the toothpick in his mouth even as he starts using smaller pushed of TK to move a section of the sand around, before bringing his bag over and pulling out a couple of extra-large towels. He seems to have created an impromptu easy chair that he casually drops into, still wearing his new "costume".

"I reckon classes are goin' alright. I went out with Wander and that Mercury fella a little while back. We wrangled us that there "Toon Gang"; they was coming after some fella who wasn't payin' tha mob or some such. It was some sorta test by Wander; she's lookin' ta fill Young Freedom up for next year, ya know. Keep tha legacy alive. Me, I'm honored ta get to take part in it. Maybe I'll be able ta get onto some super-team or another in a couple a' years. Kind of wanna go to college first, though. For a while, I figgered I'd do the civlian thing with hero on tha side, but the more I do it, tha more I love it."

He gave a goofy puppy-dog grin at his next thought.

"Speakin' a' love, me an' Quo-Dis have been doing great. Really great, in fact. Had a couple bumps here an' there, but that's life, ya know? Outside a' that, ah been spendin' time with Blake and such on. Helped him with a coupla tight spots."

He gave a sidelong glance at Jill and Dragonfly, but seemed to be a gentleman about it and not let his gaze linger. Tempting that it might have been.

"Y'all look happier than tha cat that found the cream, I reckon. Things goin' well for the two of ya, then?"

[Quinn]

Push gave Warlock a Look Of Doom as he took the pot back from Nick, pointing at his comrade and speaking in a low growl.

"You. No casting spells around my cookware. Or you will rue it. I'm not sure how or why, but there will be ruing involved!"

Checking the chili ingredients himself, he nodded with some approval and gave Nick a smile and slap on the back, before returning to work his own brand of magic in the ersatz kitchen. Knives flashed, sauces were stirred, a floppy hat was thrown on his head, and within a few minutes the area was treated to the sound of bubbling chili mix, sizzling hamburgers, and the scent of frying flat hashbrowns (they always go excellently with the burgers instead of conventional fries, particularly if onion was mixed into them with the potato).

[Heritage]

"Hi! My name's Blake Salazar, also known as Warlock, or previously known as Kid Cthulhu...nice to meet you, Ms. Estelle." He looked at her long and flowing blonde hair. "Are you by any chance Gossamer?"

The blonde heroine grinned as she firmly shook his hand. "Right the first guess! How do you do; are you a friend of Jessica's?"

"Excuse me for a moment, would you?"

"Oh, of course!" Estelle found one of the mildly unnerving things about dealing with young people was their somewhat scattershot approach to life, leaping from one situation to another. Had she been the same at their age?

"Nice to see you again, Dr. Haviland," said Eric, extending a hand to Estelle. "Haven't seen you since the poltergeist incident. That thing's been staying nice and dormant, by the way; if it's conscious in any way, I think it's learned to stay away from the power grid."

"And nice to see you as well." Her gaze wandered over the assembled group, and she shook her head in mild amazement. "This is a much more eclectic group than I was expecting, not that there's anything wrong with that-" She noted the lovely young woman applying suntan lotion to Dragonfly's back, which brought her up short for a few seconds; truly the world was changing, and for the best it seemed. "Uh, I must admit I had rather whimsical images of men and women in lab coats playing volleyball, but clearly this is a vast improvement."

"Nice to meet you, Doctor de Havilland. I'm Cobalt Templar, but today you can just call me CT. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, CT." She indicated the outdoor glass kitchen with a nod. "Very impressive work there; your control is excellent." As the scent of sunscreen filled her nostrils' she became aware of her own pale WASPy skin. "If you'll excuse me, I need to cover up a bit." She dropped the beach bag off her shoulder and fetched out a bottle of SPF 50 and rubbed it on her arms, then employed a technique that was alternately bizarre and intriguing to apply it elsewhere, namely squirting lotion directly on her hair pseudopodia to get the most thorough covering possible. To her credit, she did it in a brisk business-like fashion. "There, basted to perfection!"

She set up her beach chair, cooler and boombox slightly off to one side, feeling a bit like an outsider but refusing to give up entirely on the situation.

[Gizmo]

"Argh, Dios, stop talking like that!" Jill groaned, waving one hand in CT's direction. As she did, a faint blue glow surrounded it, and a softly humming energy construct materialized near the mountainous teen's ear, lightly whacking him upside the head before disappearing again. "Glad to hear things are going alright, though," she noted more graciously as she finished applying Dragonfly's sunscreen and gave her girlfriend a quick peck on the cheek. "And yes, thank you," she added in reply to the underclassman's question, evidently intending that there be no confusion as to the nature of their relationship. If anyone was uncomfortable with the idea, they didn't seem to be showing it, and it would have been their problem, anyway.

"Yes, querida, magic bad, science good, I know," she assured the engineer with an exaggeratedly soothing tone. "Your 'messy' might be a little worse than other people's, Nick," she noted to the necromancer. She legitimately hadn't recognized him without his makeup until he'd been pointed out to her, which presumably was the idea. "Er, wait, are we calling you 'Nick' right now?" Secret identities were always a touchy issue, and everybody seemed to have their own ideas about the proper etiquette outside of 'work'. Speaking of paranoid mystery men... She nodded with somewhat surprising politeness to Estelle. "Dr. de Havilland. I'm Jill, I think you've met my brother." In this case, the bandanna mask the young woman was wearing only emphasized the familial resemblance to Jack of all Blades.

[Fox]

Dragonfly somehow managed to not pout as Jill finished with the sunscreen, blushing a bit at the peck and going back to covering her own arms and legs. "Not that magic's bad," she insisted, frowning. "Just...needs better rules. Less random. If a robot breaks it breaks in predictable ways. Magic breaking seems to do anything. Seems...disconcerting. And would hope it set fire to things," she added, directing that bit toward Jessica. "Or crushed them with iron legs, tank treads...no fire, no crushing, what's the point?"

It wasn't entirely clear whether or not she was joking.

She took a moment to wave to Gossamer, but apparently didn't want to interrupt the conversations the woman was juggling. popular - good - hope she fits in well - never certain with age differences - deserves to relax with peers - or as close to peers as possible?

[KnightDisciple]

"Ya want me ta-OW!"

Despite the exclamation of pain, CT didn't seem to feel any true discomfort. Considering how supernaturally tough his ring made him, this should come as no surprise. He spent a moment rubbing the point of impact with a grin.

"Fine, I'll go back to "normal". And I'm glad to hear and see you're doing well.

As for your worries about rules, Dragonfly...Well, my ring seems to have a fairly solid set of parameters it works under, and I've yet to observe it deviate from those. Typically it's a case of "same tune, different lyrics", as it were. I think by the end of the summer I'll have the translation puzzle unlocked."

He shrugged his massive shoulders before casting his gaze towards Gossamer for a few moments.

"So, you work with the good Doctor?"

[Heritage]

"Dr. de Havilland. I'm Jill, I think you've met my brother."

Estelle sheilded her eyes and squinted up at the young crimefighter. "I take it from your partial costume that would be Jack of All Blades? Yes, we met a few times, once on a mission to outer space and then he just showed up at an open audition I held, played a guitar made of pure electricity and generally made an ass of himself in the best possible way." She grinned at the memory. "Do you take after him in the area of swordsmanship, or do your skills lie in other directions? Hold that thought."

To better protect her delicate skin from the sun's rays, Gossamer formed a large golden parasol, wide enough to cover herself and one or two guests in the shade. She indicated Dragonfly with a nod, causing the parasol to bob slightly, and spoke softly to the masked teen.

"By the way, forgive me for saying so, but your girlfriend is quite a brilliant engineer; I admire her not just for her skills and knowledge, but her ethics as well. You're a very lucky young woman." Smoothly switching gears, she called out to the rest of the group as she reached over to her boombox. "Is it alright if I play a little music? It's just not a beach party without it."

[Fox]

Dragonfly opened her mouth to answer Cobalt Templar, but Gossamer beat her to it - she shut her mouth again and just gestured toward the chemist and let the woman fill in the answer for herself. "....so. Yes. The Lab - founded by Gossamer, Ironclad, Supercape, Miss Americana, me. They're all highly capable." She paused, and frowned. "Mmh - 'work with'...sort of. Not a paid position - for me, anyway - and work directly with Gossamer on relatively few projects. But part of the same organization, and run into each other often."

[Lone Star]

Jessica glanced at Jill and Dragonfly, wishing that Blake had enough presence of mind to copy them. She applied the tan lotion herself though, as well as she could, watching Corbin and Tom build the glass kitchen and get to work. Watching the kineticist work was a joy, even if Push seemed more self-conscious than usual. She was actually feeling a little silly herself, as she and Blake were the only ones not wearing masks or costumes of some kind.

She leaned back on her towel, propping herself up to watch her boyfriend chase the ambulatory linen down. "I don't know," she said suddenly, evidently in reply to Dragonfly's comment. "If they were robots, there'd be crushing treads and laser eyes. Worst this, uh, poltergeist is going to do is rust out the bottom of the pot." The young woman laid back entirely, crossing her legs and closing her eyes, evidently enjoying the hot sun. "Not, you know, set fire to stuff."

Warlock leapt upon the towel, and squeezed it tight. Whatever spirit that had been occupying the linens had expelled itself, and Blake stood up, sighing in relief. He padded over to his girlfriend, and laid down next to her. "Hey cutie." He rested his head on her stomach and kissed it playfully.

Noticing the other two teens, he sat up and greeted them in his strange way- with a peace sign. "Nice to see you again, Dragonfly. And you are?" The young wizard smiled at Dragonfly's girlfriend, and offered a hand.

[Gizmo]

"Right," Jill confirmed to Estelle a little more coolly. Acting like an idiot certainly sounded like her brother, but she was the only one who was allowed to say it. "And no, I'm more what you'd call a... combat medic, among other things." Her disposition toward the elder woman improved considerably when she complimented Dragonfly, eliciting a grin from the dark haired young woman as she slipped her hand into the inventor's and gave it a squeeze. "That's what I keep telling her, yeah." She offered Jessica's boyfriend a wave, hesitating slightly at his anachronistic gesture of greeting before introducing herself, "Jill, Jill O'Cure"

[Raveled]

Jessica blushed at the kiss, patting Blake's head. She offered Jill a smile behind Blake's back, shrugging her shoulders in a silent 'what are you going to do?' She turned to her fellow Lab founder, nodding at the older woman. "Glad you could make it, Dr. de Havilard. I'm fine with music, but if this lot here doesn't like it, you may find the stereo walking off on its own." She flashed some teeth to show that it was a joke, but the truth wasn't far off from that.

The young woman leaned forward and draped her lanky arms over Blake's shoulders, giving him a peck on his cheek. "I still need some lotion on my back," she whispered to him. "Unless you want Cobalt to do it?"

[KnightDisciple]

"If we really don't like it, I think most of us can just change the station without touching it."

So said the boy with telekinesis, after all. He turned his attention back to Dragonfly and Jill. He gave Dragonfly a waving gesture at her increasingly specific definition of "working with".

"You guys both go into the Lab and do work. Even if you don't cooperate on every project, or even draw a salary, it's close enough to count as "working with" in my book."

He gave Jill a cheeky grin.

"Is she always like that? I can see the appeal, objectively speaking. Sorry I haven't gotten to know the both of you better. Especially you, Jill. Life keeps us busy, eh?"

He shrugged slightly, trying not to disturb his throne of sand and towels.

"Don't think I've met your brother. He sounds like, ah, a bit of a character."

[Lone Star]

Warlock smiled cordially at her. "Pleasure to meet you, Jill. I don't believe we've ever been properly introduced, but I think we teamed up once with Nick." He turned his back and looked at his necromantic friend. "Against...Xipe Totec? I can never pronounce those Aztec names."

The young woman leaned forward and draped her lanky arms over Blake's shoulders, giving him a peck on his cheek. "I still need some lotion on my back," she whispered to him. "Unless you want Cobalt to do it?"

Blake's eyes popped open, and he immediately moved behind her. He spread the suntan lotion on his hands, and started to work it into her back. " Just 'cuz he's got muscles...."

[Gizmo]

"Oh, that was you, huh?" Jill replied with a thoughtful noise, tilting her head slightly to regard Blake. "Small word, I guess." In turn she gave CT a level, if not unamused, look. "She likes to be specific, is all," she defended Dragonfly, putting her arm around the shorter girl's shoulders in a vaguely protective gesture. "Anyway, don't sweat it, Tiny, it's not like we had classes together or anything. And yeah, mi hermano tends to leave an impression. You remember when the Crime League attacked the Liberty Dome during the playoffs last year?"

[Quinn]

Push's mind was fairly occupied with cooking many, many different things at once when Jill spoke, but he still managed to catch the last sentence as he flipped two burgers with two spatulas in either hand, the chili's stirring stick seeming to keep moving of it's own accord.

"NHL playoffs? Hard not to hear about that one, didn't they all get...moked...by...one...guy..."

He turned his head, looking at Jill with eyes as wide as saucers.

"You're kidding."

[Fox]

Dragonfly put a pleased arm around Jill's waist, encouraged somewhat by the general non-reaction to their relationship. not that I care too much what they think - but I'm awkward enough already - care more about feeling of being judged than the actual judging? - annoying - should learn to stop worrying "Precision's important," she noted to CT, frowning a little - mostly at herself. "Difference between useful crime-fighting tools and things that explode when used. Sort of...leaks into other habits. And admit I'm not always sure what other people meant, or what the common use of a word is. Learning with experience."