Characters name: Matthew Williams
X-Men / Brotherhood Code Name: None at the moment
Age: 18
Appearance:
Mutant abilities: Basically, Matthew can control ice and has the ability to freeze things (animate and inanimate). However, its not that simple because he cant create just ice out of nothing; there has to be some water around, even on the molecular level, that he could freeze. The power of his ice depends on the nearby water source and he can control water to shape it into the object he wants to make out of ice or just to soak someone/something so that he can freeze it more efficiently. Because of long years of practice, he is able to use and extract water from plants, animals, human being, etc; if hes in sheer desperation, he is able to freeze his own blood to make a weapon. He can also trigger off snowstorms, presumably by subconsciously controlling the forzen particles of air up high. He's working on actually understanding that aspect of his power and how to tame it, though.
Now, his ice isnt a normal ice either because what good except an ice-cream career would that be in sunny America? The ice he creates is much more resistant to high temperature and fire and it takes a lot longer to melt. It's also harder and less breakable. Matthew actually studied up on possible weapons a bit to know what he should create with ice, if need comes - thats why he can make quite a bit of different, intricate weapon kinds and hes pretty good at ice-sculpting. Obviously, the more pointy a weapon is, the more effective it would be so he sticks to those.
Also, due to his abilities, Matthew's skin is always cold and he feels temperature only slightly, that is, if its blazing hot for everyone around him, Matthew would be only slightly warm. He usually feels just a bit cold though and thus, he is drawn to warmth and fire and fuzzy, cuddly things because hey, being cold is never comfy.
The power depends in some way on his mood; when hes under stress or other strong emotions, he becomes more powerful and sometimes, has problems with controlling certain aspects of his power; for example, when hes brooding, you might expect a slight snowstorm outside, be it middle of summer or not. Thats why he tries to stay calm most of time and not get too angry.
Quirks cause by powers:Like I mentioned, snowstorms. And his skin is really cold to touch to he usually wears gloves and tries to cover up as much of body as possible so that people wont think he died or something. He used to joke that he could make a fortune in those advertisments which sell refreshing chewing gum and people's breath froze everything around them, middle of summer, cause he can do it easily just like that and no special effects would be required. Apart from that, no special quirks.
X-Men or Brotherhood: None at the moment.
Sexuality: Gay but he tries not to be obvious.
Personality: Mattie is calm, usually polite and a bit of a loner (mostly because he doesnt want people to notice hes like a walking icecream cube in the middle of summer or that his body feels cold as a corpse). He tries to never lose his 'cool' *shot for the lame pun* but hes not always suceeding, especially when theres hockey or Canada in question or himself. He is a nature lover and an avid fighter for animal rights. He is also interested in studying; biotechnology and so on is of key interest to him but he tends to fail in physics and maths. He's very fit physically, after years of hiking and trekking in the Canadian mountains and he rather enjoys sports.
He is also good with a rifle and he can shoot well, due to his background.
He tries to live an average, normal life even with his abilities and never really considered joining any of the organizations; of course he heard about the Xmen and he even idolizes one of the once-member, Wolverine, who was a really superb CANADIAN hero but he never really thought about joining or using his powers to serve humanity. Hed be useful during hot summers though.
He likes to visit the local zoo, where theres a polar bear, transported from Canada via an anonymous donation and oh, I wonder who could send the bear here. Curious, curious. (Hint: It was him. He raised the little guy since he was a cub and the bear is perfectly trained and tamed, alas, the American government failed to recognize how safe it is to have a polar bear waltzing around the city on the leash so this was the best he could do to keep him close).
Background: ((gonna repeat some bits from the personality section so bear *shot for lame pun again* with me here!))
Matthew was born and raised in a remote, mountain village in Canada. The kind where snow is all year round and it never gets really sunny or green and walking through knee-deep snow for miles just to get to your neighbour was considered something normal. Most cars were useless there so people used snowmobiles; when he was a teenager, Matthew had one too. He left it behind when he came to America.
His parents died at an early age and Matthew was raised by his uncle, a good man who was a powerful, broad lumberjack and could carry a whole tree for miles, snow or snowstorms or not. Matthew sometimes tried to help (as a kid, by grabbing the other, thin end and ending up being dragged through the snow, as a teenager by actually lifting and carrying) and all in all, he had a quiet, peaceful life. As years passed, he started to focus more on his studies and decided that he actually wanted to pursue a more academic path, rather than become another lumberjack in the village.
The decision was strengthened by a certain accident that occurred because of his powers. You see, since there was snow all around all the time, no one really notice much of Matthew's powers - everything was frozen so whod notice if one thing was more frozen than the rest? And snowstorms were really a normal occurance. Matthew was obvlisious to his powers either - people also walked around thickly dressed so no one noticed if he was more cold than usual.
Anyway, Matthew happily and obliviously grew up and when he was still a kid, he got lost on his way back from the local school. Night was falling fast and he was really scared; the wind was picking up and snow was starting to fall as well, unknown to him, because of his distressed feelings. He found a dark and dirty nook and hid there, remembering tips about what to do when youre last in the mountains during night; he stayed there for hours, breaking down and crying loudly while the wind outside got more severe and harsher, hail and snow falling together, more and more, bigger and stronger and sharper. It lasted for hours without stop until Mattie cried himself to sleep; when he woke up, it was dawn and he could continue looking for a way out, the light of the day actually lifting his spirits enough to stop a snowstorm from forming but the wind was still howling loudly. It took him a while but finally, he spotted someone from the village; people were actually looking for him since last night, with his uncle as the most stubborn and vehement one.
Sadly, during the search yesterday, a man got caught up in the snowstorm and he died, fozen to death. He left a wife and two small kids behind. He was also a very dedicated doctor, looking for a small boy who might need his help, in the middle of a night and the worst snowstorms for years. He was one of the few medics the village had, so it was a great loss.
At that time, Matthew didnt realize it was because of him; but as he grew and learned, he discovered that people couldnt freeze things and they were supposed to be warm. He researched a bit and also found out about mutants and their abilities. Since then, he was training to ensure he wouldnt do harm to anyone else, accident or not.
He also started to wonder how many deaths and injuries cause by snow or ice were cause by him and how many were just nature at work; he would never know the answer, but sometimes, the question keeps him up at night and Matthew actually has a notebook with newspaper clippings of all deaths and injuries, along with personal notes, that occurred in those mountais since he was born.
He never told anyone about this, fearing rejection from the people he grew up with and loved, and the weight of guilt of the dark, shameful secret still weights heavily on his shoulders.
It was also that guilt that spurred him into leaving the village; if he wasnt surrounded by snow, his powers would be severely weaker. He is seriously considering becoming a doctor and coming back to live in that village one day, once he controls his powers and gains proper knowledge. For now, though hes just a student.
As for the bear: He found the small cub during a hunting trip he went with the local hunters. Now, Matthew supports animal rights - but to him, an animal eating another is just natural and as long as its done in a humane way and there is no excessive killing or any cruelty involved, he is fine with eating meat as such and hunting. For them hunting was the only way to get real food since plants were scarce and couldnt be relied on. Anyway, the hunters shot a female polar bear - it wasnt the time when there should be any cubs, but it seemed that the lone cub that was scrambling around in panic around his mother, was a late bloomer. Matthew, with his uncle's permission, took in the little bear and raised him until he was big and strong enough to be on his own... but the bear liked it ther and decided to stay, much to Matthew's glee. He became assisting the hunters with hunting along with the dogs and he allowed Matthew to ride on him, which the boy gladly took advantage of.
As he moved to America for studying, he wanted to take the bear with him... and to his surprise, discovered bears werent allowed as pets. Silly country, America. So, he arranged an anonymous donation from Canada to the local American zoo and he comes regularly to visit his friend, who seemed to treat the whole thing as a big vacation, swimming around and lazing in the sun with other bears.
Subject: Matthew Williams 
Thu Jun 21, 2012 8:08 am
