[SCT] Chocolate And Marshmallows = True Happiness

[Quinn Wiley]

This trip has been a waste of time. He should've stayed at the school instead. The firework had been interesting but Quinn barely got out of the cabin. Quinn had no balance on skis or a snowboard, proven by the multiple times he tried only to fall or nearly hit a tree. He preferred to stop while he was still alive. He might try some cross country later but if he disliked that too, all this trip would be worth for will be to avoid his crazy roommate.

The ones he got here were a lot better. He was surprised the school allowed boys and girls to mix. Not that he thought he had any chance with them. He knew Zoe was dating a girl before, he had no idea who she was dating now but he could guess another girl. As for the other, he barely exchanged words with her since they got here. It was still a little weird to be around girls though. He was so used to sharing his room with guys.

His ability had some good around here. It kept him warm no matter how low the temperature was outside. He still enjoyed the warmth and coziness of the cabin however, and a lot more than the snow. The hot chocolate too. He never drank so many hot chocolates in his life. He even made sure to leave with a bag of tiny marshmallows in his things. He didn’t know if they’d put some in their chocolate, if they did they never put any in his, so he brought his own. With yet another warm cup in one hand, he dropped several marshmallows in it with his other. He waited a little, to let them melt in the drink, before taking a sip. He had a smile of contentment. This made the trip worth it.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

This trip had just been great. First Zoe had enjoyed the fireworks with her friends. Liz, Alice, Zoe, and Liz's boyfriend Beau had mostly stayed together, and Zoe had met a few more of Liz's friends (the girl seemed to know everyone). Beau turned out to know Devyn, which had been a little awkward, but at least he seemed nice enough about it. Zoe had made sure to say hello to Maelea too.

Then she'd gotten to spend time with Alice and, well, things were going really good there...

And there had been pictures! Zoe had taken some of the scenery, and she'd spent an afternoon just taking pictures of people outside using their powers. Part of her hoped to chronicle the Snow Wars later, but she might have to see about getting some kind of bodyguard or something.

Right now though, she just wanted to head back to her cabin and relax for a bit. She'd met Lux before, and the two girls got along fairly well. It turned out that Lux dated Tim, and since Tim had been the one to help Zoe with her clothes situation, she certainly appreciated him, and by extension Lux. She also didn't mind sharing with a guy, as she'd been living with them off and on since her arrival (if anything, guys made her less nervous; she was never attracted to any of them and didn't have to worry about that).

"Oh, Quinn," Zoe said as she entered. Some snow fell from her hat, a cute little knit thing, and she took it off. Zoe had just been out, after all, and she looked slightly flushed. Her camera hung on her neck, making her look slightly smaller, as did much of her clothes. She swallowed and raised a gloved hand, wiggling a few fingers. "Um, hi..." she managed, before looking at the chocolate. "Is that... hot chocolate?" she looked back at Quinn, clearly a little surprised at it. It just sounded like such a sweet soft drink, and neither of those words came to mind when thinking about Quinn Wiley.

[Quinn Wiley]

Maybe this trip would have been more enjoyable to Quinn if he had friends to spend his days with. But Quinn had little friends. There was this girl, this Erin, who decided she was his friend. He had nothing to say about it but then again, he had little to say about most things she chose to do with him. He knew most people who came to this ski trip but they didn't really know him. It was all his fault, really, since he preferred to be alone. But it was lonely sometimes, to be always alone. And boring. Very boring. Quinn often thought he should do something about it but he never managed to go further than being somewhat friends and more of an acquaintance with people. If you weren’t close, it didn’t hurt to watch them leave you.

Right now, he chose to ignore all this loneliness he sometimes felt. He was cozy and warm in the cabin and enjoyed a hot chocolate, with marshmallows. Who needed friends then? He looked up when he heard someone coming in and calling him. Not that many people seemed to know his name but Zoe knew it of course. He nodded at her, not really bothering saying her name. He knew who she was and his nod was enough greeting without him having to say her name the same way she said his. “Hi,” he did say however when she greeted him.

“You didn't freeze too much while taking pictures?” he asked as he noticed her camera. He heard some people before complaining about the cold. Unless he had to throw some fire out of him, he generally was warmer than most of them so he didn’t feel the cold as much. He also made sure he only let one or two fireballs at a time to prevent freezing on his way back to his room.

He was about to take another sip of his chocolate when she asked about it. He looked at her. She seemed surprised and this made him surprised. What was so weird about drinking hot chocolate? He read that chocolate and milk had fat in them, so it was perfect for him. He didn’t know for the marshmallows but he didn’t care, they were getting in anyway. “Yes, why?” he asked in return, making each of these two syllables last very long.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Well, clearly Quinn hadn't changed overmuch and didn't alter himself just because he happened to be in a cozier environment. Zoe again found herself shifting a little, looking at the young man and wondering why she'd actually bothered to come up and approach. Well, at least the first real question didn't sound quite so... aggressive?

"Not really," Zoe replied, shrugging slightly. "This is actually a digital camera, so i don't have to worry as much about the parts and film freezing. I should have enough to actually repair my traditional camera soon though," yes, photography, they definitely had that in common. Actually, mentioning it made Zoe wonder if she shouldn't continue discussing it, bring up her show and all.

No, instead she'd had to ask her silly question about chocolate. She flushed at his question, noticing the inflection, flushed and shifted. "Well, ah, I just--you didn't--when we've talked you didn't---" she looked away for a moment, fidgeting again. "I just didn't see you as the type to drink hot chocolate, honestly," she flushed then shrugged, looking back at Quinn. "I guess that sometimes impressions can be wrong."

[Quinn Wiley]

No, Quinn didn’t change one bit, no matter who decided to lose their temper on him in the past or call him a creep. Or worse, tried to make friends with him. Still, he didn’t think he was plain right mean to Zoe. If he had to admit it, he’d say he appreciated her, if only because they shared a common passion for photography. Even though he envied her for having more than one camera. He tried his best to hide this when she said she would soon be able to repair her traditional one. He couldn’t afford a really good camera, digital or not. He had one, that was fine, of course, but not enough if he ever wanted to make a career in photography, whatever picture he chose to make. He had seen one that he really wanted but he knew he’d be breathing out ice before he could get it.

He knew he wasn’t the easiest to talk to and he knew Zoe was the type to be nervous real fast, but he never thought he’d intimidate someone over a cup of hot chocolate. “Relax, Zoe,” he let out, his tone calm but there was still something in it that might sound like he believed she was overreacting. “It’s just hot chocolate. It tastes good.” He never thought there could be a type of person that looked more like drinking chocolate than another. He even shrugged at her explanation. Did he really look this mad at her? Over hot chocolate?

He grabbed a few more marshmallows and dropped them in it. He was about to take another sip when an idea popped in his head and he replaced his cup on the table to turn his attention back at her. “What did you expect me to drink?”

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Relax, said with a calm tone, calm enough that Zoe actually sighed and felt herself relaxing, if just slightly. She smiled sheepishly and moved around to perch on a chair a short distance from Quinn and his hot chocolate. His explanation certainly made sense, which just made Zoe blush again.

Though she at least managed to bring her head up to meet his eyes at his next question. She smiled a little, leaning back and taking a breath. Licking her lips, Zoe looked away. "Coffee," she said, looking back as she finished, "you just seem like the kind of person who sits back and looks at life with that sort of cynical look, all while sipping black coffee, enjoying what it does to you and maybe the flavor a little, but not relishing it or wanting it spoiled by silly things.... like marshmallows," Zoe flushed and gestured at the other.

She then bit her lip, looking away for a moment. Another breath, and Zoe looked back at Quinn, the effort of maintaining the conversation apparent, but also apparently what sh wanted. "I do that sometimes, think up what it's like for people and so on. It usually comes out as poetry though," she smiled and let out a little laugh, "I guess that was more prose poetry, maybe?" Zoe looked back at the hot chocolate, watching the little curls of steam rise from Quinn's cup.

[Quinn Wiley]

Quinn might agree that he wasn’t always a ray of sunshine, if he ever happened to be called that in his life, but he never thought the fact he was drinking hot chocolate might affect someone this much. Again, he reminded himself that this was Zoe he had before his eyes. The girl was able to apologize to the grass she was walking on for walking on it. Maybe not, but it sure was how she looked to him. It didn’t bother him. He only thought the world will eat her alive or make her have a heart attack out of fear before her time. Again, this was not really his problem.

Despite this fairly sad portrait of Zoe that he made for himself, he actually liked the girl. Not loved, since she was not into guys, but she was one of the few he could tolerate. She was quiet, she wasn’t poking around all the time. Because of that, he wasn’t cruel to her, at least not in his opinion. He was not smiling whenever he saw her nor did he sought her company but he was not trying to chase her away every time he came next to her.

He listened as she said he was apparently a coffee kind of guy, judging by his look. He took a moment to meditate on what she told me. “Am I that pathetic6” Truth be told, Quinn didn’t drink much coffee, ever, let alone black. But he couldn’t deny this portrait didn’t sound too different from the person he was, aside from that detail. He shrugged, not really caring about what she thought of him. “I like sweet drinks. Plus it contains more fat than coffee and I need it, for my diet,” he explained. He didn’t think he had to justify his choice of drinks to anyone but perhaps it was because he didn't dislike her that he chose to tell her that.

He wouldn’t admit however that he was sometimes doing the same thing. Quinn wasn’t good for joining groups and bonding. He preferred to stay in the background. Because of that, he observed the more sociable people, envying them. It was easy then to imagine how better their lives could be in comparison to his. Alright, maybe the way they played it was different, but the fact remained he took thought up what it was like for other people. “You write poems too?” He was not going to say he was doing it and he realised she didn't act like as nervously as she normally did. It was odd but it also wasn’t like him to ask. He noticed her looking at his chocolate. “You can get one too if you want, you know?”

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe flushed. "I didn't... I don't think you're pathetic, no," she said, looking away for a moment. She did listen as Quinn continued though, and she had to admit that it made sense. He probably needed fat for his diet and he probably needed to drink sweet things to soothe his throat. "Sorry, I didn't mean... I was just..." she gestured for a bit, before letting out a sigh, "I was just... letting my imagination get away with me. Really," she nodded again, looking away.

Then more nodding, this time in regards to her poetry. "Yes, I usually, um, write them about the photos I take. I'm actually going to be putting both on my show," she took a few steps closer, hesitating. "Are you sure?" she pointed at the hot chocolate. "I wouldn't want to disturb you or steal your hot chocolate or anything like that..."

And again with the shifting. Zoe really couldn't help it, not with him. He just made her nervous, especially now that she'd heard he'd been doing a similar project to her own...

[Quinn Wiley]

She might have not said that he was pathetic but he felt like he was. Was he really this guy, the one in a corner, with a bitter coffee and an even more bitter facial expression? This portrait made him feel like he’d be one of those grumpy old man that scared kids someday and he didn’t particularly liked this image.

Normally, people tried to cut fat. At least, the ladies with their crazy ideas about being too fat and all. For Quinn, it was the opposite. He needed more than usual as he burned it very fast with his power. Of course, since he was rather skinny, it didn’t seem that weird he might want to ingest some, even though for most people fat equaled gaining weight. He could use some more weight. Then again, he could also gain from shaping up and he was not doing it. “It’s ok,” he said after a moment and many apologies from her. He preferred to leave it at that. Picking up a fight, verbal or physical, with Zoe seemed pretty pointless. He was a likely winner anyway, no real fun in that.

Quinn remembered her show. She mentioned it before, when she started taking pictures of him. He wondered what kind of poetry she wrote. He couldn’t really judge based on what he had before his eyes. Many artists turned out to be very shy people so she could be good. She already had a clear talent for photography. “Is it coming along?” he asked. He was not trying to be cynical, for once, something did interest him. He was curious to see what his picture would look like in the end. He never thought he’d be in a picture you might want to hang on your wall, except for the humiliating family pictures but he was not counting them.

How could Zoe be even this stressed over hot chocolate was a mystery to him. “So long as you don’t get it from my cup,” he pointed out. Quinn didn’t get he was actually the one making her nervous.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Ah, Quinn, still a man of few words. Words did not come willingly from him, not him whose mouth spat fire, as though he knew that to open his mouth was to light the air aflame...

... and there she went again, letting her imagination run away with her. She smoothed her skirt a little more and moved closer, taking his invitation to mean that she could at least sit near him. She nodded her answer to his question as well: "Yes, actually," she further supplied, "I've had quite a few people show up to model and I have all the displays set up. The venue's been arranged for a while. Um..." she paused, and in that pause came chocolate which Zoe did, taking advantage.

As she finished getting her cup, wrapping her hands around the cup, she figured she might as well come out and say it. That was what everyone, Quinn included, wanted from her, really. "I, ah, used that picture I took of you, back when we met," she said, looking mostly at her cup but shooting looks to Quinn, "and, um, we sort of wanted to use it for the advertising? A sort of, um, lighting up preconceptions about mutant powers sort of thing," she shifted, "but... we won't do it if you don't want your picture shown for whatever reason..." though Zoe had already drawn up the designs and arranged things. Still, she'd gladly undo her hours of work if it would make someone uncomfortable.

[Quinn Wiley]

It wasn’t easy for Quinn to talk a lot with others. It wasn’t that he had nothing to say but he restrained himself so much that he ended p telling very little. Zoe was talking a lot. She wasn’t actually saying a lot but her stuttering made it feel like she was speaking a lot. Quinn rarely stuttered. He probably did once or twice and felt more embarrassed than he ever had been in his life. It was simpler to just shut up. You didn’t risk making a fool of yourself as much then.

Despite her nerves, Quinn sort of liked Zoe. Not to the point of considering her a friend. He’ll probably feel a little hole in his heart when they’ll part ways but he also assumed they would at some point and it made things easier. He was not investing himself too much. But they shared a common passion and he felt he could better relate to someone like her than, say, everyone else. He listened as she explained that everything was coming up along just well. He felt like she wanted to say something else but with Zoe, he always felt like there was more she wanted to say and just dared not. He sort of gave up trying to have her say it already because every time he tried to do so, she stuttered even more as if he was scaring her or something.

It seemed that all it took for her to speak up was for him not asking for her to do so. He looked at her as she said she wanted to use a picture of him. No, not she. We. “We? You’ve got people helping you out?” He had no idea who ‘we’ were and why ‘they’ might really want him to let them use his picture. He wanted to see his picture however. He was curious to see how people would react, if some would bother stopping and wondering who that was or if they would just keep on, ignoring him. He did fear they would ignore him but he thought the visual should be interesting enough for people to stop if they wouldn’t care any more about him than they did at first. “Advertising?” Now, he really was surprised. That would make people notice him. He actually liked that. Everyone wished to have fifteen minutes of fame or even fifteen seconds. But Zoe was already talking as if she could do something else. “No... no, that’s fine. You can use it,” he said. He had the feeling he used too much force on the first no but it was a little late now to change that.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe nodded at the mention of the "we." "There's the people running the venue," she said, ticking it off on her finger, "and, um, a local blogger has been helping me with online promotion. My girlfriend's going to help, and a few of my friends have been helping with some of the advertising," she chewed her lip, looking away and retapping her fingers. That felt like nearly everyone, though she wouldn't have been surprised if she'd missed someone.

Soon enough she was nodding, answering the question about advertising. She opened her mouth to continue, to point out that Quinn's image had been particularly striking with the color palette and the perfect moment captured and all that. Zoe just hoped that he would---- no? She nearly jumped, nearly repeated the word, nearly flinched, but managed to keep all such reactions bottled up.

Zoe nearly sighed, but smiled instead, nodding. "Thank you! We did, um, have backups, but I really do love the image and everyone did think it would be quite catching, sure to draw people in. Oh," she fidgeted again, "you're also invited to the show, of course. And it's free, there's, um, some donations for a Mutants' Rights group, but you don't have to worry about that," though she supposed that now that she'd mention it, he'd worry. "We can always donate for you, since you agreed to model if," she bit her lip for a moment, "if a bit... after the fact..."

[Quinn Wiley]

Of course, the people running the venue. Why had Quinn not thought about that? Probably because he thought only about the artistic aspect of it and that should be all Zoe since it was her work. She then started naming many other people involved including a blogger and a girlfriend. This was frustrating to see this girl who really was only a ball of nerves having so many people by her side. Why didn’t he have people by his side? Oh, right... It didn’t change the fact it was annoying to see her being so popular when her personality really didn’t predestined her to join the queen bees of the school.

In a way, Quinn preferred to see a picture of himself than pictures he did. Not that he thought he had no talent but he doubted he could handle the critic well if they were judging his work. At least now, if they didn’t like it, he could simply blame Zoe for it. He was still nervous about it though. He had never been popular, barely even known to the other students and he really wanted to hear what they had to say about his picture as they would be talking of himself. At the same time, he feared being referred as the creep. He could just hear it. “That’s a really nice picture of the creep,” He tried not to think about it as it would only make him angry and right now Zoe was overjoyed he said thank you. He couldn’t really have a change of heart now.

She had nothing to fear, he did not worry about this Mutant’s Right donation thing. Yeah, sure, mutants had right. They were the black people of the century, or the gays, or whatever over group of people who once had to stand up t be acknowledged and accepted. Seeing as there were still racists and homophobic, he didn’t have much hope for his kind. He took a sip of his cocoa while listening to her. He supposed he would have to give something after all. Well, he didn’t have a lot of money so they’ll deal with whatever he could get even if it was small. He stared at her as she said he modeled for her. It was sort of amusing since he didn’t intend that in the first place. “We can put it like that,” he let out when she admitted he sort of agreed after the pictures were taken. “You managed to get many people to model for you? Or you sort of asked after?” Quinn asked. He wasn’t much the kind to ask which probably explained his reputation of being a creep and possibly a stalker. He just preferred to capture a moment than let someone pose for his camera. Unless it was a project that called for it and so far he had none that did.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The question was actually one that Zoe welcomed, and she seemed to brighten at it. "Well, it's a bit of both, actually. There were a few people that I contacted after the fact, people who I'd taken photos of and simply wanted to use. Other actually responded to my advertisement," Zoe paused, ticking things off in her head, tapping her mug with each number. "I believe I've something close to a dozen subjects? Give or take a few..." she flushed. "Ah, that is, um, including a few shots of me, though my power doesn't really manifest itself in a way that's very visible. My girlfriend though, she has, ah, wings," she gestured, "so it was really easy to do..."

Zoe flushed and looked away, chewing her lip for a moment. She blinked, nodded and looked back to Quinn. "So, um, did you, did you have any projects of your own?" she tilted her head slightly. "I'd be more than willing to, um, help or offer critique if you... if you want."

[Quinn Wiley]

Since they were talking about photography, in a way they were, Quinn seemed a bit more talkative than usual. He still didn’t say much. It wasn’t that he didn’t like to talk. Had he allowed himself to, he probably wouldn’t be able to shut up. But he preferred not giving a shit about people and that included not talking to them more than he had to. He was surprised she managed to get about a dozen people to pose for her. He doubted he could get twelve people to model for him, not even if he said it would be in designer’s outfits.

“Wings?” he let out, his facial expression showing he was slightly surprised to hear some people had wings. He probably shouldn’t be. But he was. “Like a bird or a butterfly?”Quinn had not seen someone with wings so he was curious as to what it could look like. Just to see the picture, of course. Not meeting the winged girlfriend. Yeah, pictures were good enough.

Quinn couldn’t care less about Zoe just saying she had a girlfriend. If she was shy about it, it was her problem. Why should he have anything to say about it? It was not like it affected him. Although Quinn did start to wonder if all the girls he found interesting or kept going after him were lesbians. Could he get a straight one for a change? “I don’t really have a project right now,” he admitted. He took a few pictures of people and got ideas but it never went any further than that. “I came here hoping I’d get some new inspiration.”