Matt and Sarah - An evening stroll together (backdated to April 10)

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Sarah runs into Matt outside as she's going for a walk, and they chat and get to know one another better while walking together for a bit.


It was a lovely April evening, and Sarah had been having a wonderful day indeed. Before calling her sister, which would likely result in a phone call of a few hours or more, she decided to go out for a walk while it was still light out and get some exercise. Most of her day had been spent watching Star Wars movies, after all, aside from her awesome run in with Kurt.

She wrapped herself up in a warm sweater and headed outside, hands in her pockets, as she strolled along outside. Sarah wasn't that far away from the building when she happened upon a fellow student. As she drew nearer she saw that it was one of the newer students, Matt. Her first instinct was to wave to him but then she caught herself and instead called out to him. "Hey there Matt, how are you doing?"

Matt had heard someone approaching as he headed down the path, white cane arcing gently in front of him, but he hadn't said anything. He hadn't recognized the footsteps or anything like that. "Who're you?" he asked, instead of greeting the girl. It was a little brusque, but there were a lot of people at Xavier's that he hadn't met yet, and he disliked it when people knew him and he didn't know them. Once he met a person and spoke with them for a little bit, he usually knew who they were again the next time they met.

She hadn't really thought about that, whoops. Stopping a few paces or so away from him, she smiled and spoke again. "It's Sarah, Sarah Vale. We spoke a little on the journals." Not that that would make it possible for him to recognize her voice or anything, but she felt like adding it just the same. "How are you doing?"

"I know the name," Matt agreed, he didn't remember what they talked about, or if they did, but he at least remembered the name. He was good with names, when he bothered, "I'm good," he replied, "You? Sup?"

"I'm ok, thanks." She was actually extremely excited about what her and Kurt had previously discussed, but didn't want to geek out too much. Sarah was in a very good mood though, which was the main thing. "Just decided I'd go for a walk before it got too late, is all. Would you like some company?" She wouldn't interfere if he wanted to be left alone, though company was always nice, or so she thought. Couldn't hurt to ask either way, in her mind.

Adjusting the glasses glasses that covered his eyes slightly so that they were comfortable, he nodded, "Sure," he agreed, one hand moving to his wrist to check the time on his watch. It was getting later, but it wasn't too bad. "If you don't mind," he added, figuring that it would be better to explore with her than on his own. If nothing else, she knew the lay of the land better.

"Great, alright then." She smiled and fell into step along side of him, walking a few feet away from him or so. "Nice evening for a walk, too, starting to warm up a little bit." Spring just might have been her favourite time of the year, with the anticipation of summer being right around the corner and all. "So, how are you finding it here so far?"

"You mind if I hold your shoulder?" Matt asked, walking with Sarah, but not quite at the same pace. "And it's big. Different," but only in that everyone was almost scarily nice. Was it wrong that that Jared guy seemed more familiar?

"No, not at all." She wasn't used to that, really, but didn't mind it if it'd help Matt out. Sarah wasn't sure how to do that so she just stood there and let Matt approach her. "Yeah, it's a big place, took me awhile to get used to it. Well. I'm not really completely used to it, I guess." She still got lost sometimes, though thankfully that was getting more and more rare as of late. "Different is definitely a good word, heh."

When his cane hit what felt like leg, Matt used it to get a better idea of where she was then placed his hand on her shoulder. Much better. "Just walk normally," he instructed, cane still out to catch any potential surprises in his path. He wouldn't be hitting her with it again at least, though it hadn't been hard. He wasn't trying to hurt her. "How long have you been here then?" Matt asked, curious, "And where'd you come from?"

She almost jumped back as his cane hit her leg. Not that it hurt, but for a second Sarah thought maybe she was in his way - until she remembered he was going to be holding her shoulder. "Ok, can do." She did as instructed, walking at a leisurely pace with Matt by her side. "This is my second time here, actually, I was here two summers ago in but went back home in September, and just came back in February. And I'm from DC originally, it's where my twin sister still is, along with my parents and grandparents. How about you, where are you from?"

"Your sister a mutant too then?" Wasn't that how it worked? Especially if they were twins? Why wasn't the sister here then? These were all questions that ran through Matt's mind as they walked, but he didn't voice them, not wanting to be too nosy, "So much fun you came back, eh?" he joked. Well, he thought he was funny, "And I'm from the city. New York," as if there were another. There was nowhere like New York.

Sarah shook her head without realizing it, but spoke to expand on her answer along with it anyway. "No, actually, she isn't. Or she isn't yet, I guess. I dunno if there's a deadline on that kinda thing or what." If she was going to manifest powers of her own, there had already been a span of several years between the two of them. Maybe after so long it just wasn't possible? She had no idea. She chuckled a little at that. "My first time here was... interesting." Thoughts of Catseye and Forge came back to her, which made her miss them both so she shoved it aside and focused on what Matt said next. "New York? Oh wow, that's awesome!"

"Huh," Matt didn't comment about her sister beyond that, but he did think it was a little strange. Well, what did he know? Nothing! "Eh, everything always gets less interesting with repetition. So you should be an old pro now," he dismissed things, unconcerned. This place was interesting alright, "Yeah, well, you know. Live in a place and it's not nearly as interesting to those who ain't been before and all that." Like he knew? The farthest he'd ever been was here.

"Maybe someday. She may come up to visit sometime." Kurt had reminded her of that, and she was going to tell her sister later that evening. "I wouldn't say a pro, but I know my way around, I guess. A little." Sarah was getting back in the saddle at any rate. "I guess that's true, yeah. Certainly different than home, but you get used to it." She was still in the process of doing so herself, really, but she liked to think she was better off now than she had been the last time she was there.

"That'd be good. Run amok and all that," Matt joked, figuring that that was what sister would probably do who were separated for a while. "You know your way around better than me. So...that's something, I guess," he didn't mention home or it being different or anything like that. There wasn't much to compare it to and he had no home, not really.

She playfully punched Matt's arm at that. "We're good girls." Except when they argued, which wasn't that often, but even then there wasn't much that'd qualify as running amok. She figured he was kidding, at any rate, hence the punching. "You'll know it soon enough, believe me." Even though it had been almost 2 years since she'd arrived, the vast majority of that time was spent back in DC after all. "I'm up for helping until then, though. And you can pay me back with showing me around New York, maybe." She was excited to go back, her first trip had been on one of the regular weekend bus runs and she wanted to do it many more times.

"Yeah sure," Matt agreed easily, "Once I can go back," he added, unsure when that would be. He went weekly to the nearby town to meet with his therapist and he had checked in with his probation officer, but with his senses still out of his control and everything else, he wasn't supposed to go to New York yet. Really, he didn't get out much and he was okay with that right now. He liked his room and how quiet it was.

"Oh, I didn't realize..." It had never occurred to her that there was a reason why he was there and all, and that he might not be able to go back to New York, at least not right away. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you couldn't go back." Sarah felt bad for bringing it up like that now.

"Eh," he shrugged, "It's not like, common knowledge," Matt replied easily. "I'm on probation. And currently stuck in Westchester County, which is silly. But y'know, get off early with good behavior and all that. Or not getting caught," that wasn't quite the entire truth, but it hit the high points. "You didn't think this fine establishment would let in JD's huh?"

"Hopefully you can, yeah." She had no idea how probation worked, honestly, but Matt seemed like a nice enough guy to her, and she knew what it was like to be away from home, let alone being forced to stay away, so she hoped that'd change for him soon. Sarah wasn't sure what to make about the not getting caught part, and was tempted to ask what had happened to get him in that situation in the first place, but thought better of it, for now anyway. "They wouldn't let anyone in who they didn't deserve to be in here, I don't think, so that counts for something, right?" She was trying to make it sound positive, anyway.

"I guess," the truth was, given how nice everyone was around here, he really did wonder why they let him in. Need, sure, but there was also his history working against him. And he might be a minor and it would be sealed once he turned 18, but that was a long way from now. "Eh, I'll get back to the city. Probation won't stop me. Gotta get my powers under control first though," otherwise, he'd be back in the city looking for his fix and he knew it. If he weren't at Xavier's, he'd not care either.

"You will, in no time flat, I bet. Just you wait." She nodded and patted his hand on her shoulder to reinforce that thought. "Yeah, that's always a good thing. It's why I came back, to try and get a better handle on things too." Her grandmother got through to her that she had to do the best she could with the gifts that she had, even if it meant being apart from her family and being in uncomfortable or unfamiliar situations. "You'll get lots of good help here with that."

"What do you do again? Computers or something?" had she said that or had he heard it somewhere? Or maybe he dreamed it, but he doubted that, "Or you're just good with computers, I mean. Ignore me, I ain't making sense."

Sarah nodded again out of habit. "Yup, I can talk to machines, kinda. Tell them what to do, sometimes, depending on the circumstances." And the machine. Damn you, toaster. Matt had a good memory indeed. "You're making perfect sense, Matt, though I don't think I know what it is that you do." Or if she'd known at some point her memory had failed her.

He'd had to develop a good memory since he rarely could rely on notes or things to help him. "Enhanced senses," he replied, with a grin, then tapped his glasses, "Well, four of five anyways. And the blindness isn't from the powers, just a special extra tossed in for shits and giggles," they had both sort of happened at the same time, but one was caused by chemicals, the other by the trauma of that accident.

"Oh, wow, that's pretty awesome! The enhanced senses, I mean, not the, you know." The blindness part was obviously not awesome. From the sound of it Matt had been able to see prior to getting his abilities, so that was even worse to her, losing his sight rather than never having it in the first place.

"Blindness," Matt said dryly, "You can say it. It's not a bad word. Neither is 'see.' People think it is though around me, which is silly," because it was a very useful verb. The entertainment value of watching someone stumble around it was lost years ago. "And it's alright, I guess. Mostly, it's annoying. I'd rather talk to my computer."

"...blindness." She repeated after him. It wasn't a bad word, no, but it wasn't something that she wanted to bring up with Matt, which was silly once she thought about it because it was hardly like he'd ever forget about it. "Hey, you can still talk to your computer, you know. No one's stopping you." She chuckled and nudged his hand again in jest.

"Oh, I do," he assured her, easily, nudging her right back, "And it talks to me too. Gotta love voice software," not what Sarah had probably meant, but he talked to his computer in less than polite tones too. And threatened to make it into scrap metal on a regular basis. The problem was, he was slow with them and unfamiliar. It wasn't really the computers fault.

"Voice software is handy, totally." Especially for those other people who didn't have powers like Sarah's. "If you ever need a hand with it, let me know." She'd wonder what it would be like to have a computer actually talk back to her for a change, that'd be interesting.

"Very," Matt agreed. "And I might. I'm...not the most computer savvy," there was a light rustling of leaves and Matt smiled. He liked it when that happened. It bothered his ears, but the breeze felt good. "I haven't broken it yet though!" that was actually something he was proud of and it was something surprising too. He had never had much computer access to really get comfortable or familiar with them.

The breeze was nice, though a little cold, which wasn't too surprising as it was getting late and closer to dark now. "Well, I am, or can be at times, I guess." Sarah didn't want to pat herself on the back too hard. She laughed at his last statement. "That's good! Let's hope you don't, either." He'd have lots of opportunities to get used to the computers there, for sure.

"Give me time," he assured Sarah. Matt wasn't bad with computers, just inexperienced and unfamiliar. "So...other than computers and being from DC and having a twin, what else? I mean like...I dunno, hobbies or whatever? What do you like?" Really, Matt liked hearing about other people. They were interesting.

She'd help him out if it ever came to that, but she was sure he'd be just fine. "Oh, the usual, I guess." Sarah shrugged. "I like to read, I'm a fan of steampunk, Star Wars is awesome. The usual." The Star Wars was on her forefront mind because of all the movies and the earlier interaction with Kurt, which had been fantastic. "How about you, what are you into?"

"What's steampunk?" he'd never heard of that. And while yeah, a lot of people liked Star Wars he wasn't sure if he would classify it as 'the usual.' "Eh, the usual," Matt teased, "music and TV and stuff. Reading actually, if I can get books." He didn't mention gymnastics or boxing, both would require explanation or possibly invite teasing and he did not want that at all.

She blinked at that, even if he couldn't see it. "You don't know what steampunk is? It's... steampunk." Sarah thought everyone knew what that was. "Like... think Victorian era things, running on steam, doing cool, modern things." That was a pretty loose description but she'd never really had to explain it to anyone before. Sarah lightly punched him again at his teasing. "Reading is a good pastime, yeah." She hoped the library would have some books Matt could use, or at least some good audio books or something of the like. "I had to get some audio books for Yvette awhile back, I know they've at least got some of those here."

"I'm rereading the last Harry Potter book," Matt said to Sarah, amused, "There's a lending library for braille books via the post office. So I get books sent to me. I'm on volume 4 right now, because they break a lot of books up into volumes if they start getting too big with the braille and stuff. There're 10 I gotta get through before July," he wasn't sure he could do it either, "And...uh...no. Never heard of steampunk. Sounds weird. Like...why would you do that? Make stuff run on steam instead of electricity? Is that even possible?"

"Ooh, those are great!" She was one of the millions who had read the books and was a fan as well. "Ahh, I didn't know that, that's great then. And I'm sure you can do it!" Sarah had no idea how long it actually took to read braille, though, or how big the books were, but she had faith in him. "It's a little... odd, I guess, but it's very cool. I think it is, in these books and movies and things they do. My watch is steampunk!" Designed that way at least, as given to her by Jess, and was one of her most prized possessions. She held it out for Matt to examine with his hands if he so wished.

Taking her wrist, Matt felt the watch with a couple fingers, examining it. "So...sort of more jointed and with lots of screws?" he asked, not entirely getting it. His own watch had a faux leather band and a circular watch face and the plastic covered opened on a tiny hinge so that he could feel where the hands of the clock were. "Not like mine," he let her see his own watch. It wasn't at all fancy.

She let him feel the watch, looking down as he did so. "Something like that, I guess." It was hard to explain, it was to her anyway. Sarah looked over at his watch. "Nope, but yours is nice too." As long as it did what it was intended to, that was the main thing, anyway.

Not being able to see things meant that style was sometimes hard to explain, especially if it was something new to him. "I like it," he agreed. It was a prized possession, he'd gotten it from the Priest at his church as a gift one Christmas. Well, it had been from the needy kids ticket on the Christmas tree, but he had drawn it and gotten it for him. It had been the only thing he had wanted that year.

Sarah pulled her sweater a little closer around her, it was starting to get a little chilly out. "That's the main thing, isn't it?" She smiled at him, it was clear from the way he spoke of his watch it was important to him. Others mightn't appreciate hers either but it meant a lot to her, and that's all that really mattered in the end, to her at least.