A week later Quinn wrapped her scarf tighter around her face. It covered her head entirely except for her eyes and her mouth. "Y'all good?" Mark asked her as they stopped at a crosswalk. Quinn nodded. "How aren't you cold?" she wondered. Mark shrugged as the little digital man told them it was ok to walk. "Yeah I'm cold but I guess I'm just used to it," he replied. Quinn crossed her arms tightly across her chest and shivered. "You'd think I'd be used to it. This is my second winter on the streets."

Mark glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, remaining silent. Quinn didn't talk often about her past so when she did Mark stopped to see if she would tell a story. "How long has it been?" he asked. Quinn stared at her snow covered boots. "It was a year September fifth," she replied quietly. Mark cringed. He had only been on the streets for a month. "A year on your own?" he pressed. Quinn caught his gaze and Mark looked away. "Sorry. I was just curious." Quinn shook her head. "It's fine. You have a right to be."

Just then someone's shoulder connected with Quinn's, making her turn and stumble. Mark caught her by the arm before she fell into the street. "What was that for!" Quinn screamed after the guy. A tall guy, no older than twenty-five, with cropped black hair and icy blue eyes turned to face her. "What was that for!" Quinn repeated, taking a step towards the guy.

"You want to start something kid?" he snapped. He tugged on his leather jacket and took a step towards her. A demonic smile blossomed across Quinn's face. "Oh yeah," she answered. Mark noticed the tone in her voice and recognized the smile. He grabbed the back of her jacket and pulled. "Come on Quinn. You can't fight here," he hissed in her ear. Quinn didn't reply, and suddenly a black aura began to appear around the guy. He glanced around franticly. "Wha-what's going on?" he stammered.

Passerby slowed to watch the growing black mass behind the man. "Quinn stop," Mark ordered. Quinn's smile grew but she didn't reply. "QUINN!" The black mass disappeared quicker than it had came. "Scram," Quinn growled. The guy took off running. People stared at Quinn with a mixture of fear and confusion on their faces. Mark yanked on Quinn's jacket and she reluctantly started to walk.

"You are an idiot sometimes you know that?" Mark hissed in her ear.

"He crashed into me."

"He bumped you Quinn. He bumped you."

"So?" Mark let go of her as he tilted his head towards the sky and sighed. "Quinn!" he exclaimed.

"What do you want from me Mark!" Quinn demanded. "I can't be as perfect as you!" Mark shot her a look. "You know that I'm right," Quinn said. "You're all happy peace joy fun times and you never ever fight. You get along with everybody and even though your powers are destructive you aren't."

"My powers aren't destructive." Quinn snorted. "Not destructive my ass," she snapped. "You can create weapons by frickin' crying for God's sake!"

"I don't need to cry-"

"You're not helping yourself," Quinn told him. Mark glared at her and fell silent. "You can create weapons and yet you never do anything with them! When we hitched a ride on that coach bus and the driver found us you could have threatened him but no, you had to apologize, try to reason, and in the end lead me away and leave us stranded without a map for three days."

"We got a map though. We found our way out."

"Yeah, after three days though!"

"Well why didn't you use your powers? You clearly have no problem throwing innocent people into your nightmare filled black holes."

"Because you stopped me."

"Well someone needs to hold you back."

"Are you saying that I can't control my powers?" Quinn stopped and Mark wanted to smack himself. He had just hit a button, specifically, the big red danger button. "That's not what I said-"

"You implied it." Mark ground his teeth together, picking his words carefully in his head. "I was saying that you yourself, as a person, are a very uncontrollable person."

"I'm uncontrollable?" Mark smacked his forehead with his palm. Wrong words. "You have a lot of energy. You're a very… alive person." He warily opened one eye to see Quinn glaring at him, her hands planted firmly on her hips. Her red eyes danced with violent flames and Mark glanced around, trying to figure out what to say. "You can control your powers it's just that you're temper and your energy and your personality is uncontrollable." He risked a glance at Quinn and saw that the fire in her eyes had dimmed to smoldering embers. Then her arms relaxed and she crossed them across her chest.

"We cool?" Mark asked warily.

"Not quite, but enough that I won't kill you. And when you're in my company you know that that's all you can ask for." With that she turned and headed down the street.

AN: Sorry if the senarios are getting repetative or whatever but I'm just trying to do character development and relationships. Also a little bit of past info on them... Just stick it out they'll be getting to the Institute soon :D Thanks for reading my lovely readings!