Gaia & Quentin, Wednesday afternoon
Mar. 26th, 2025 05:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsQuentin interrupts Gaia's self-training and offers his mentorship in his characteristic fashion. Spite is a powerful motivator.
It was a rainy day in Westchester. Gaia, being thoroughly indisposed to facing the elements, had taken refuge in the rec room, where she hoped to go undisturbed.
A Jenga tower stood in front of where Gaia sat with her legs folded, brow furrowed with concentration. Grey energy encased one of the blocks as her eyes glowed, and it shakily began to nudge itself from the stack.
Quentin needed to be somewhere, anywhere but his suite where he had been bent over paperwork all damn day. And he was just a little too drunk and a little too high to safely leave the mansion grounds, especially in this weather. Not for the first time, he lamented the frailty of his telekinesis, so he could not simply fly away like Jean or Jim could. As he passed the open door to the rec room, he spotted another young and heretofore unknown psychic clearly struggling with the same shortcoming. She had pink hair, even. What were the odds? He stopped in the doorway to watch silently as the block wobbled out of its place in the tower.
Not silently enough, apparently, as the mutant was yanked away from her task in surprise. The game collapsed as the block in question whizzed violently across the room, banging against the wall.
Gaia glared at Quentin. She had been so close to succeeding that time.
The offending projectile stopped in midair before it fell, and gently floated back to Gaia. Then the tower began to reassemble itself. Languidly, as if the little two-by-fours were unbothered by their collapse and getting back into formation was just a thing to do. A mood that Quentin expressed himself as he ambled into the room.
"Try it again?" he suggested, telekinetically tugging the first block himself from the middle of the tower and placing it on top.
Something in the back of her mind itched. "Who are you?" It was not phrased like Gaia cared to know his name, more as if demanding who was he to tell her what to do.
"Quentin Quire," he answered, unphased by her resentment of his presence. That was just par for the course even nearly a decade into this place. "One of the many psis here and, truth be told, the best." Truth insofar as Jean was still out of commission, so by his reckoning, he had defaulted to number one. "Come on, try again, it's not that hard."
The girl scowled again, but her eyes lit up as a piece from the middle nudged itself out gently. Spite was as great a motivator as any. This was evidenced by the block being sat on the top of the tower next to Q’s without the whole thing toppling over again. “No, it is not.”
"Sloppy but at least you did it." Quentin had instantly picked up the vibe, and being a complete bitch just to get under someone's skin was his greatest skill. He took a seat across from Gaia on the other side of the game and took his own turn, not caring that she had not invited him or his commentary. An exterior block from the lower half of the tower nudged itself free, settling next to the one she had just placed.
"Do you not have something more.. useful to be doing?" was said as another of the wooden pieces sailed to the top of the tower, shakily. On the best of days Gaia was resistant to 'constructive criticism', especially when it came to her powers, and this was not one of those days.
"What could possibly be more important than guiding the next generation of mutant youth?" Quentin posited.
"I do not require your... guidance." The protestation fell just as flat as her next piece, which toppled from her telekinetic hold once freed from the tower.
Quentin reached over to pick up the fallen piece and held it out to her. "Of course not. That's why I'm offering, not demanding."
"Hmph." Gaia accepted the block and placed it atop the tower begrudgingly.
"Hmph indeed." They continued playing for a few minutes, the tower growing more unsteady with each move, but it still remained upright even as Quentin pulled out another piece with a feather-light touch. "Here," he said, floating the piece in front of Gaia, "take it from me and place it." A little test of skill to see if she could transfer matter into her own telekinetic grasp from his without dropping it.
The girl stared intently at the piece, never having been able to try something like that before. The mechanics of such a move were thought over for a moment, before slowly, the pink energy of Quentin’s telekinesis turned grey as Gaia tugged the block from his control.
What was almost a smile flashed across her features, and the piece was placed on the top of the tower, but with a little too much force in her excitement. The whole thing came tumbling down again.
Gaia made a displeased noise, her victory cut short.
Quentin blew a strawberry. "Welp, you tried. C-level effort if I'm being generous." He stretched out his arms and legs as if he had been sitting there for hours and not just a few minutes. "But a B is probably in sight if you try. You wanna?"
Gaia gave him a look that said “I am doing this because I want to, not because you suggested it” and began to stack the tower up again. She would not be defeated so easily in front of the likes of Quentin Quire.
It was a rainy day in Westchester. Gaia, being thoroughly indisposed to facing the elements, had taken refuge in the rec room, where she hoped to go undisturbed.
A Jenga tower stood in front of where Gaia sat with her legs folded, brow furrowed with concentration. Grey energy encased one of the blocks as her eyes glowed, and it shakily began to nudge itself from the stack.
Quentin needed to be somewhere, anywhere but his suite where he had been bent over paperwork all damn day. And he was just a little too drunk and a little too high to safely leave the mansion grounds, especially in this weather. Not for the first time, he lamented the frailty of his telekinesis, so he could not simply fly away like Jean or Jim could. As he passed the open door to the rec room, he spotted another young and heretofore unknown psychic clearly struggling with the same shortcoming. She had pink hair, even. What were the odds? He stopped in the doorway to watch silently as the block wobbled out of its place in the tower.
Not silently enough, apparently, as the mutant was yanked away from her task in surprise. The game collapsed as the block in question whizzed violently across the room, banging against the wall.
Gaia glared at Quentin. She had been so close to succeeding that time.
The offending projectile stopped in midair before it fell, and gently floated back to Gaia. Then the tower began to reassemble itself. Languidly, as if the little two-by-fours were unbothered by their collapse and getting back into formation was just a thing to do. A mood that Quentin expressed himself as he ambled into the room.
"Try it again?" he suggested, telekinetically tugging the first block himself from the middle of the tower and placing it on top.
Something in the back of her mind itched. "Who are you?" It was not phrased like Gaia cared to know his name, more as if demanding who was he to tell her what to do.
"Quentin Quire," he answered, unphased by her resentment of his presence. That was just par for the course even nearly a decade into this place. "One of the many psis here and, truth be told, the best." Truth insofar as Jean was still out of commission, so by his reckoning, he had defaulted to number one. "Come on, try again, it's not that hard."
The girl scowled again, but her eyes lit up as a piece from the middle nudged itself out gently. Spite was as great a motivator as any. This was evidenced by the block being sat on the top of the tower next to Q’s without the whole thing toppling over again. “No, it is not.”
"Sloppy but at least you did it." Quentin had instantly picked up the vibe, and being a complete bitch just to get under someone's skin was his greatest skill. He took a seat across from Gaia on the other side of the game and took his own turn, not caring that she had not invited him or his commentary. An exterior block from the lower half of the tower nudged itself free, settling next to the one she had just placed.
"Do you not have something more.. useful to be doing?" was said as another of the wooden pieces sailed to the top of the tower, shakily. On the best of days Gaia was resistant to 'constructive criticism', especially when it came to her powers, and this was not one of those days.
"What could possibly be more important than guiding the next generation of mutant youth?" Quentin posited.
"I do not require your... guidance." The protestation fell just as flat as her next piece, which toppled from her telekinetic hold once freed from the tower.
Quentin reached over to pick up the fallen piece and held it out to her. "Of course not. That's why I'm offering, not demanding."
"Hmph." Gaia accepted the block and placed it atop the tower begrudgingly.
"Hmph indeed." They continued playing for a few minutes, the tower growing more unsteady with each move, but it still remained upright even as Quentin pulled out another piece with a feather-light touch. "Here," he said, floating the piece in front of Gaia, "take it from me and place it." A little test of skill to see if she could transfer matter into her own telekinetic grasp from his without dropping it.
The girl stared intently at the piece, never having been able to try something like that before. The mechanics of such a move were thought over for a moment, before slowly, the pink energy of Quentin’s telekinesis turned grey as Gaia tugged the block from his control.
What was almost a smile flashed across her features, and the piece was placed on the top of the tower, but with a little too much force in her excitement. The whole thing came tumbling down again.
Gaia made a displeased noise, her victory cut short.
Quentin blew a strawberry. "Welp, you tried. C-level effort if I'm being generous." He stretched out his arms and legs as if he had been sitting there for hours and not just a few minutes. "But a B is probably in sight if you try. You wanna?"
Gaia gave him a look that said “I am doing this because I want to, not because you suggested it” and began to stack the tower up again. She would not be defeated so easily in front of the likes of Quentin Quire.
