HARTLEY, Brian

Brief Summary: PENDING

Brief Summary: Brian Hartley was born to a life of luxury, the second of two boys. His parents were loaded, having inherited everything from Andrew's parents upon their death. They lived lavishly, sparing no expense on anything. Houses, cars...you name it, they had it. Brian went to a number of private schools, and enjoyed overseas vacations every summer. He and his brother enjoyed all of their parents attention. The Hartley's weren't the sort of family that shuffled their sons of with nannies and other caretakers. They doted on them personally. Sure, he was spoiled, but he didn't think that he was a bad kid. For the most part, he stayed out of trouble. Serious trouble, anyway. Boys will be boys, after all. So maybe he got in a few fights, or got kicked out of school for releasing all of the frogs from the science lab. It was all in good fun, at least according to his parents.

He skated through high school, only managing to get a spot in a good college through sheer luck and bribery. Despite that, he didn't try very hard. He'd never tried very hard. College was mostly about girls and parties and all sorts of other fun. Classes were far down on the list of his priorities. He made it a little over a year before getting the boot. Again, he didn't mind much. He'd figure out something else to do with his life. Following his mother's lead, he jumped from job to job, dabbling in a bit of everything. One of the things he dabbled in was Jenny Wilkes. They dated for a couple of months, and Brian was as loyal to her as he was to anyone. That's when the unthinkable happened. She got pregnant. Rather than being all cold about it, he suggested that she keep the child. He would be able to support a kid, after all. Their relationship fizzled, but Brian kept in touch with Jenny. He was determined to be a better father than he was boyfriend.

Brian's mother, Rochelle, was never content with sitting around and doing nothing. She was always looking for new ways to increase the families wealth. There was always money invested somewhere, in one venture or another. Most of the time, they didn't make anything new. In fact, they ended up losing massive sums almost every time she tried something new. Andrew let his wife do whatever she pleased, for the most part. That is, until them being broke was a very real threat. There were a number of bitter arguments about what they were going to do. After almost thirty years, they'd come to expect a certain quality of life. Now, that was all about to be ruined. Rather than trying to come up with a sensible solution to their problem, Rochelle took the easy way out. Or tried to, anyway. She got involved with a company, and slowly started to siphon off funds. It kept them afloat, still awash in all the things they were used to.

Until she got caught. The authorities picked her up, and hauled her off. Within the next twenty-four hours, Andrew Hartley fled the country. He packed up and moved to Spain, hiding out in one of their country houses just in case they were looking for him as well. Brian was at a loss of what to do. Peter had his own life, having settled down with a nice girl in South Carolina. Without income to support his ex-girlfriend and kid, he didn't know what the next step was. He'd never had to figure things out on his own. Instead of learning from his mother's mistakes, he tried to take the easier path. There were all sorts of lucrative pursuits that he was qualified for. Sure, they weren't exactly legal, but at least they paid the bills.

He kept one of the few houses that hadn't been repossessed when his mother had been busted, on the beach on Isle of Palms. At least he didn't have to pay rent, and he managed to keep the other bills to a minimum. Because of that, he was able to send a check to Jenny and Aiden every month. He visited, too, whenever he got the chance. Brian was determined to be a vital part of Aiden's life. Even though he didn't keep a 'steady' job, he had income. Somehow. Still, he's always on the lookout for more ways to earn cash, no matter how legal it might be...

Illusion Brian's powers are of illusion casting. He can psionically cause other people to see, hear, touch, smell, and/or taste things that do not actually exist. He can also cause people to sense things in ways that they would not naturally; for example, he can make himself look and sound like a different person, or look and feel like a wall, or even seem invisible. For this to work, these people have to be within the range of his powers. Brian can trick any number of people at any given time, ranging from a whole room of people being under his sway, to only one or two out of a group seeing something that's not really there.