Training I Suppose

As Quill walked into the forest, he took a deep breath. The crisp, chilly air turned it into a haze as he breathed out and tried to figure out what exactly it was that he wanted to do. Since classes started, the young boy hadn't had much time to practice with his power outside of what was required, not that he really wanted to. However, he knew that he needed it. This porcupine quills that covered his body were virtually useless outside of looking freaky and falling out on occasion, but his teachers kept telling him there was much more to it considering his mother's abilities. He just had to figure out what.

As he walked under under the canopy of branches, the leaves crunching under his feet, he slowed to a halt when he finally found a small clearing, the sun barely breaking through to the forest floor below. "This is as good a place as any, I guess..." He mumbled to himself as he reluctantly stripped off his large red hoodie, the white t-shirt underneath and his large, baggy jeans, leaving himself bare in a pair of gym shorts to the frigid air. A quick shiver followed shortly with goose bumps shot through his body as the now free quills reacted, stiffening and flaring out almost like hair before he forced himself to relax. Gritting his teeth against the cold, Quill had already begun regretting his decision. "Well, here goes nothing..."

Gwen walked through the forest, bundled up in a heavy winter coat, a scarf, a wool beanie, and gloves. Despite her being freezing, she enjoyed seeing the scenery in the wintertime. Her boots crunched through the snow as she wandered aimlessly. She sighed contently as she walked, loving the winter. Eventually, she stumbled upon a clearing where a boy, who was wearing way too little clothing for this weather, was standing in the middle. "What are you doing out here? Aren't you cold?" she asked in disbelief. What kind of weirdo would be out here without a coat??

The sound of the snow crunch suddenly made the boy whirl around with a sharp gasp, the approach of this new girl startling him. "Jesus!" He exclaimed, taking a few steps back to put some distance between the two of them. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" Upon her presence, however, Quill immediately noticed the position he was in and quickly became apologetic, followed by a flustered reach for his shirt to try to cover up the quills that had flared up yet again from the scare.

"Ah, damn it.. Sorry, sorry..." he mumbled, trying to throw on his shirt as fast as he could, but it simply shredded as it came in contact with the quills. Of course, Quill only became more frustrated as he continued to make a fool of himself. Gritting his teeth, he held tight onto the remains of his t-shirt. "Of course I'm cold but... but I need to practice," he said, his eyes shooting to the ground from embarrassment.

Gwen blushed and quickly look away, picking up on the embarrassment of the boy. "I mean, yeah, we all need practice with our gifts, but you do realize we have indoor facilities for this shit right?" she responded with a smirk. "Besides, if you stay out here much longer you'll catch hypothermia and frostbite." She looked back up, less ashamed, and noticed just how his gift worked. Clothes would just shred off of him, so offering him her coat until they got inside was a no. "Is your body always like that or can you, uh, retract them?" she asked cautiously, not wanting to offend the boy.

His face flushed, he refused to even try to make eye contact with the girl. Instead, his arm reached up with the loose cloth still in hand and gripped the back of his neck as if to relieve some of the awkward tension he had caused. "Well, you see, I uh..." he paused for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. "I don't really... like being around people. I guess I'm still trying to figure my gift out. I guess I thought no one would be out here." He listened to her question and began looking about his limbs. "I wish they would retract. It would make my life so much easier and definitely make me look less freaky."

"Freaky? I think they look pretty cool." she said. And she meant it. They looked pretty wicked. "Have you tried taking some calming breaths and focusing on it? That seems to always work in the movies." Gwen shrugged. She was lucky her power only activated when she flicked her hands out."If we go inside somewhere and you don't die from hypothermia I'll show you my gift." she offered, not even hiding the fact that she was trying to help the boy not get frostbite.

Quill blinked in shock. They were cool? The thought completely baffled him but he couldn't help but smile a little as he reached and grabbed his jacket off of the freezing ground. While he didnt want to admit it, she did have a point about the hypothermia. Trying to calm down as much as he could, he eventually felt the spines on his limbs relax so that they laid a little flatter, allowing him to slowly slide his jacket back onto his body. "I've tried everything to get them to go away but nothing works. I'm hoping that the teachers can help, or at least try to help. But yeah, going inside might not be a bad idea. What is your gift anyway?" He asked.

Gwen smiled as she turned to start walking back towards the school. At least he had his coat on now. The girl nodded as Quill explained his gift and the issues that he had. She hadn't been at the school long, but she knew that the teachers would be able to help. If not his exact problem then the teachers will help him accept his spines. She smirked at the boy questioning her gift. She liked that she had piqued his interest. "You'll just have to wait until we get inside to see," she said, walking a little faster to get ahead of the boy.

At her response, Quill pursed his lips. "Okay fine," he replied, making sure to keep up with her as they finally made their way inside. As the doors closed behind them, he let out a quick shiver as the warmth of the inside shocked his skin. His quills tried their best to poke through his jacket and flexed off of his legs but quickly relaxed as soon as the goose bumps were gone. "Okay, so what is it? You know what I can do, I gotta know what you can do."

She chuckled, amused by the boy's curiosity. she takes off her coat and balls it up as best she can. "Watch this," she said, tossing the jacket into the air as high as she could. When the jacket's altitude peaked, she flicked her hands and time froze around them, including Quill. "Ah shit," she muttered, walking up to Quill. Focusing as hard as she could, she flicked her hands again and Quill unfroze while the rest of time around them remained still.

OOC: Basically Quill would notice that she seemingly teleported in front of him and that the jacket is suspended in the air. Her time freeze radius is ~10 feet in any direction.

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little excited about knowing her power. As she took off her coat and threw it into the air, he watched closely before suddenly it wasnt the coat he was surprised by. Instead, it was Gwen who had appeared in front of him in an instant all the while the coat hung in the air like it was frozen. "You can...! You can...?" He paused a minute, trying to figure out exactly what this was. Was it teleportation, freezing, or both? "Uh... What can you do?"

Gwen chuckled and flaired her hand. Time around them resumed and the coat fell. Without looking, the coat basically fell into her outstretched hand. like a badass. "I freeze time. I had accidentally frozen you as well but I'm learning to unfreeze individual things while keeping the area around us frozen. Pretty sweet, huh?" she said, showing off slightly. She was proud of the control she had managed to get over her gift.

"Okay, yeah that's pretty sweet!" He replied, still staring in amazement. "Sounds a lot more useful than mine, that's for sure. How long can you freeze time? Is there a limit? Imagine being able to freeze everything except for yourself and taking like a super long nap!" Quill was really getting into this. "Or you could be like the ultimate superhero! A building is on fire? Just freeze time around it and get everyone out without a worry. Dude's holding hostages? Freeze him and he would never know what hit him!"

Gwen smirked. She enjoyed the praise she was getting. "I can only do it in a small field around me. Plus there's a time limit if I don't manually restart time in the field. I wish I could freeze time and just take a nap. Or use it to have extra time on tests. That would be great," she explained. "But the superhero thing sounds promising. Please, tell me more..." She liked the idea of having people look to her as a hero. Something about that made her feel powerful.

"Oh, well--" He let out a tiny chuckle, surprised that she even wanted to entertain the idea of a superhero. "It's actually something I'd been thinking about for a while. Being a superhero, I mean. Like, we have these gifts, right? Why not use them to help people? Like..." Quill paused, trying to think of examples. "Have you ever read comics, or maybe seen the old superhero movies? They would like come in from out of nowhere to save the day every time! Retrieving a stolen purse, catching the bank robbers, stopping crime syndicates! That's what I want to do when I get older!" A smile stretched across his face for the first time as he thought about himself saving the day.