Gregory Simms (Slide)

[jarrod]

Player nick: Jarrod` Name: Gregory Harmond Sims Codename: Slide. DoB/Age: February 6, 1989/ 20 Height: 5'9 Weight: 170 Powers: Friction Control - Slide can negate the force of friction on a surface touched. This effect spreads rapidly from the contact point in the direction Slide desires. In this manner he can cause a surface of 100 square feet to become frictionless in just a single second. This effect only lasts as long as he remains in contact with the surface. He can only affect a single surface in this manner - while curves do not break up an area into multiple surfaces sharp angles do. For example, a ball typically has two surfaces - the outside and the inside. While an empty cube has 12 - six on the outside and six on the inside. So he could affect the top of a single stair, but not an entire flight, or the whole of a gym floor. He can span small breaks in a surface, so a beach could count as a single surface, but a pile of gravel could not. He has learned sufficient control of his abilities that if he is simultaneously touching more than one surface, he can use that contact to affect more than one. He has more limited control in the other direction, only able to increase friction at the point of contact where his body is touching something. Anti-friction bomb - Slide can, at the cost of the use of an exhaustive amount of energy (equivalent of a 200 m sprint), create a sphere of anti-friction about the size of a softball in the palm of his hand. He can then throw this sphere of anti-friction, and, everything within a distance of 15 feet from its contact point becomes frictionless for a period of 30 seconds.

Human Kevlar - Slide's ability to create greater friction to items in contact with his body has allowed him to prevent attacks designed to cut or penetrate his body considerably less effective. Once the attack (a knife, or a bullet) penetrates his skin, he immediately increases the friction between it and his body to a degree such that it spreads out the force over a greater area and allowing him to stop the attack from further penetrating. Occasionally, depending on the power of the attack, this can cause other damage (such as a super-powerful katana blow breaking an arm), or cause him to go flying, or tear some of the surface flesh from his body. Slide has gone through extensive training with his cousin Barracuda to make this reaction virtually instantaneous and instinctive, thus, he does not need to be aware of an attack for it to work. "Magic" Blade - Slide has learned to wield a specially designed sword which allows him to remove all friction from the blade (when he grips the pommel, he is in contact with surfaces which include both sides of the blade). This increases the weapon's ability to penetrate things which it cuts or stabs by a significant factor, as the action is not opposed by the force of friction. Effectively, this allows an edged weapon Greg is capable of affecting in this manner to cleave through objects of equal hardness or lesser hardness than the material the blade is made of (steel carves through steel, but not titanium). His current sword is made of steel.

Background/History: Gregory's childhood was very different from most other children. Traveling often, never knowing from week to week if they'd be rich or poor tomorrow it was the kind of life that made you appreciate the little things as well as the grand ones. That was the way life went with Rodger Simms, professional gambler, as a father. When Gregory was young, his father used to joke with him that he'd been won in a poker game. When he got older, though, he learned about his mother's death. It had occurred while he was an infant. She'd been killed by a building that collapsed as a result of combat between two super-powered beings. He had a fun time as a child - because of how well his father was known, they let him on the floors of the casinos when he was 10 (with his father, of course). He learned how all the games worked, knew about the strategies behind betting schemes, knew how to spot a crooked game, and knew how to read a tell. It was great fun, and his father was his hero. When they were rich, they lived it up, when they were poor, they had one another so it didn't matter. When he was twelve, though, and he began to show signs of having 'powers' of his own, it started to make him feel guilty. After all, it was this kind of thing that had killed his mother. He managed to hide it from his father for a year, but eventually his father found out, and discovered how it was affecting his son's emotional state too. His father stayed home instead of going to a big tournament to talk to his son, and explain to him how it wasn't his fault his mother died. How these things he could do were gifts, and he should be grateful for them, like they were for everything they had in their lives. Loving his father as much as he did, and truly believing he was the smartest man alive, he took his father's words to heart. Besides, Gregory's love of life and fun was too strong for guilt and despair to take too solid a hold on him. When Gregory was 16, his father hit a run of bad luck, and stopped being able to pay for the private tutors that until now had been keeping Gregory up to date in his schooling. His father tried to take over, but the school work took him away from his work, and he wasn't the best at it, so it contributed to things getting worse. The run of bad luck continued, as well, and their savings began to dwindle. His father began to get warnings from social services that if he could not support his child, that he'd be placed in a foster home. Things were starting to look pretty bleak when Rodger got a letter from Xavier's School for the Gifted. They wanted Gregory at the school, and they were willing to waive the fees until Rodger could get on his feet. It wasn't a perfect solution, but at least Gregory would be getting an education, have a roof over his head, food in his belly, and his father could come visit when he wanted. It wasn't long before Gregory was packed, and on his way to New York... Since then Gregory has spent 3 years at Xavier's School for the Gifted, finding family he didn't know he had, and adopting others. No longer a student in the school, he nevertheless does not yet have the education to be a teacher. He has decided to pursue higher education at Berkeley College, while still living at the Xavier Institute, helping out in the infirmary, and virtually anywhere else he's asked. Like most students at the school, Greg has also trained in martial arts for those 3 years. Appearance: Gregory is a pretty regular looking youth, with long red hair and hazel eyes. He wears jeans and t-shirts typically, the only 'oddity' in his style being the black pork-pie hat he wears with red hat-band, and his tendancy to avoid shoes when he can.