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xxxxxGwen had a hard life from the beginning. Her mother had her at 17, her father was never in the picture; Gwen isn't even sure who he is. Her mother worked a variety of odd jobs to support them and their tiny, barely legal apartment, not an easy feat in New York, especially without a high school degree. Her entire childhood was a constant state of barely surviving and very lonely, with no friends or siblings and her only parent hardly ever home.
xxxxxThen, when Gwen was 14, she began to notice something odd. Whenever she touched an object, she would leave behind a shiny yellow fingerprint. It would fade almost instantaneously, leaving the object unchanged so she didn't think anything of it. As time went on, the prints would linger longer - first a few seconds, then minutes, eventually reaching a point where they never went away. It was only until yellow handprints began appearing all over the apartment. Concerned, her mother took her to the doctor and after more mundane theories were tested and denied, they came to the only conclusion left: Gwen carried the X-gene. But since she didn't seem to have any control over her abilities, the her abilities, the only 'cure' was to wear gloves. Maybe it came from the stress of another stress in their already struggling life or maybe it was purely coincidental but her abilities grew exponentially after she found out. Within a month, she no longer just left yellow hand and finger prints; the entire object would be transformed. It was only now that she released she wasn't just turning it yellow, she was turning things gold. Literally gold. And before, living material hadn't been affected. Suddenly, all manner of plant and animal life would turn to gold at the simplest of touches.
xxxxxRealizing the dangers of her abilities and the burden it put on her family, Gwen ran away from home at 17. Knowing that nice housing, even with her unusual 'income', would be out of reach due to her inability to explain where it came from, Gwen has had to settle for roaming the city, selling her gold to a rotating list of shady pawn shops, and using it to fund the bare necessities. Her living quarters change frequently between hotel rooms, questionable apartments, and occasionally the streets themselves. Since then, she's built a mental shell, learning to trust no one and let no one in; a lesson learned from many betrayals, attacks, and attempts to use her for her abilities.
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