Log: Matt & Jean

[x-daredevil.livejournal.com]

After talking and experimenting with his powers with Kyle, Matt headed down to the medlab to talk to Dr. Grey about it more in depth.



Matt was a regular down in the medlab thanks to the random drug tests they sprung on him from time to time, though since he had been drug free for a few months now, they were becoming less frequent. That was good. This time though, Matt was headed to the medlab on his own volition to find Dr. Grey. "Dr. Grey, are you here?" he called, though he could hear her heartbeat. That did not mean too much though because there were a lot of little rooms around the medlab for different things and she could just as easily be in one of those and not hear him and he wouldn't be able to tell if she was there or the main room. Regardless, he needed to speak to her.

The smell of coffee was readily apparent as he walked into the medlab, despite the fact that it was around 6:00 pm. He could hear Jean's breathing, quiet and steady, almost in rhythm with her heartbeat as he neared the sound.

She was asleep, he realized belatedly, cane hitting something solid and he realized after a moment that it was her desk. Uh. Crap. Now what? Did he wake her or come back later or what? It was the middle of the afternoon, which was not normally a sleep at your desk sort of time. "Uh...Doc?" he asked, "Dr. Grey? Wake up."

Jean blinked her eyes open, startled, as she lifted her head, rubbing her eyes.

"Matt? Hm?" she said, trying hard to shake off a light stupor that had fallen over her from her impromptu nap. She turned around in her chair toward him.

"I'm sorry...rough night last night...Are you okay? Is there something I can help you with?"

His drug test wasn't today so she knew he wasn't there for that.

"Uh...yeah. Maybe..." Matt paused awkwardly. "Mind if I sit for a minute?" he asked, unsure quite where the chair was. The medlab was a big place, even the main room like this, and he knew that things could shift around here, especially chairs. When he was due down, a chair for him to sit while they took blood was always easy for him to find, but since he wasn't expected, he did not assume it was there. "Sorry to wake you."

Jean shook her head. "No, that's okay. I shouldn't have been asleep. I had a lot of coffee...I'm kind of surprised, myself," she mused with a smile, then added.

"And please, sit. There's a chair four steps directly in front of you."

She stared down at her coffee mug, then back over to Matt. Kyle, Haller, and some of the others had taken it upon themselves to discipline and/or talk to the boys after the fight, which she thought was a good idea.

"Are you hurt?"

He hadn't come to her after the fight like Artie did, and he didn't look too banged up.

"What? Oh, no, I'm fine," he replied, one hand grasping the back of the chair and then sitting in it. Folding and unfolding his cane in a nervous gesture, he finally said, "So when we were in the sewers I found a new aspect of my powers. And I was testing it a little with Kyle and he said I'd better talk to you," well, he had said 'a doctor,' but Matt was glad it was Dr. Grey. "I uh...guess I'm like a bat or something? When stuff echoed in the sewers, I could sort of see outlines where it was. Not everything, but where the sound was. And then Kyle threw a shoe in the barn and I could sort of see when it hit the wall. And when I yelled at Kyle, I could sort of see an outline of him. Not like...not colour and not detail, but...shape sort of. Then it faded away to nothing like normal." Matt did not think he was getting better at explaining it the more often he did so.

Jean tilted her head curiously, sitting up straighter in her seat. The medical doctor took a step back in favor of the mutation specialist.

"Echolocation. It's a biological sonar. And you hadn't had any other instances before the sewers?" she said.

It had been a stressful situation for most of the students. Perhaps it had triggered this aspect of his ability. It could potentially explain why his sense of hearing was, at times, incredibly more amplified then most others who demonstrated enhanced senses leaning toward sound.

Matt shook his head and sort of shrugged, "You mean before or after the drugs to dull my senses and then learning to use my powers so I don't need them?" he asked realistically, then gave a less-flippant answer, "Not that I ever noticed. I get so much...feedback I guess, that it was overwhelming," it still was for long periods, but he had his quiet room now which helped a lot since he did not need to control himself all the time. It did not block out all noise, but it helped to lessen it and therefore decrease the strain that using and understanding his powers created. "Could I use it to see again?" he asked, unsure if he wanted the answer or not. After so many years blind, the idea of being able to see both fascinated and scared him.

Jean fell silent for a few moments, taking off her glasses.

"It wouldn't be like seeing in the conventional sense, but from what you described it sounds like it may be possible to at least ascertain a sense of your surroundings. I need to do more research, see if there's any other precedent with other mutants and examine animal equivalents," she said.

"We can also supplement your current practice sessions with new exercises to help you figure out the mechanics of how the echolocation will work."

Matt nodded, grateful for the answer. It was both realistic and reasonable. This was not a magical cure-all, but it did possibly mean he would be able to 'use what vision he had' as the O&M instructors had explained to plenty of people. Matt had no vision at all, but he had heard that phrase a lot since the majority of those with low vision or blindness could see something, it was just a matter of how useful that vision was."Does this mean I'll have to go back to O&M?" he asked.

"Given the uniqueness of your ability and its affect on your senses I'd like to see what methods, if any, others have tried first if there are other cases," Jean said.

"If it comes down to it we can arrange to have an O&M instructor come here on a weekly basis to help out."

"I know that Ray Charles used to wear hard soled shoes so he could hear his feet walking so he could sort of figure out where he was instead of a cane," Matt replied, he wasn't entirely sure how that worked really, but it was something at least. He wasn't really a fan of O&M classes. "Alright. Well...I guess we do tests or practices or whatever then. Because if this works it could be pretty cool. And if it doesn't...." he shrugged, "nothing changes."

Jean smiled. "Let's be cautiously optimistic. We can start Monday," she said. She had a few people she could call to see if they knew offhandedly any people with echolocation. Otherwise they would just have to wing it, something she was perfectly keen on doing.