Log: Matt & Amanda

[x-daredevil.livejournal.com]

Matt meet Amanda and discovers that not only is he not the only one with an addiction that he is working on, but he gets some tips about how to deal with it since Yvette's birthday and eats the awesome grilled food.



Plate piled high with food, Matt carefully navigated the people with his cane around the pool to find a place to sit. After a minute he ended up at a group of deck chairs a little ways away from the others, but not so far away as to not be able to follow the action. "Hi," he said, not recognizing the heartbeat or smell of the person already there, "Mind if I sit?" he was clad in a pair of wet jean shorts and nothing else.

Amanda looked up from underneath the floppy hat she'd had forced on her, squinting through her sunglasses. "Sure," she said, taking note of the cane. "There's a chair about half a foot in front of you, just to your right. Feel free." She waited until he'd found the chair before continuing, shifting her arm carefully in its sling. "You'd be Matt, yeah? I'm Amanda. I think we've spoken on the journals once or twice."

"Yeah, I am," he was fairly easy to spot all things considered. He had his sunglasses on too. "Nice to meet you face to face," he sat down and got himself situated with his plate on his lap and his fork in hand. He let her cane drop to the ground next to him. "How're you?"

"I've had better days," Amanda said with a wry grimace. "You're lucky you can't see me at the moment - 'm a right scary mess with the black eyes and all."

"You lose a fight?" Matt asked, his first thought going to boxing more than anything else, but he doubted that was how she got hurt. "Or should I not ask about the other guy?"

"Work accident," she replied, remembering that there were things the students didn't need to know just yet, including the sort of things X-Force got into. "I'll heal, tho' it hurts right now."

"Yeah, that's how it goes," he said around a mouthful of potato salad, though he sounded entirely too knowledgeable about that. "You uh...you said you were an addict once, right?" he asked softly, unsure.

Amanda nodded, before realising he wouldn't be able to see it. "Yeah. Still am really, I just have it under control," she replied, dropping her own voice. "How're you holding up after the whole thing at Silver?"

Matt shrugged, "Dealing. Sorta," not really. He'd retreated to his room and dived into schoolwork for summer school, but he really wanted whatever it was again. "I want it. At best, I get distracted for a little while."

"Distraction's good," came the surprising reply. "Anything that gets you out of thinking about a fix. Moira - she helped me with mine - used to say stuff like chewing gum helped her with the booze cravings. For me, it was smoking, but I wouldn't recommend starting up just for that." She chuckled a little. "You got mates who can help you out with the distraction thing?"

"Smoking is gross," Matt replied, though it was almost automatic. Smoking and enhanced senses did not go together at all, "I've been reading mostly, which...I guess? I mean...I'm friends with Molly. But she's a kid, I don't wanna corrupt her," he wasn't close with most of the other students and wasn't talking much with Artie. That he had already lost his sight and was on his way to addiction by the time he was Molly's age made him want to protect her.

Amanda lowered her sunglasses slightly to look at the teenager beside her. Hmm. "Sounds like you could do with a bit more going on, tho'?" she guessed. "And I wouldn't worry about Molly. Unless you're gunna start giving her dope or whatever, she'll make her own decisions. Could be good for you, too, to get away from the whole 'I'm not good enough for her' attitude." She made a note to ask Meggan to maybe suggest things the three of them could do - her sister was good at making people feel comfortable.

"Nah, I don't deal," that he had never done. And never would. That wasn't how he worked, "I was on prescription pain killers anyways, not too much harder stuff. I was sort of transitioning to the harder stuff when I tried to buy from a cop and well...that didn't end so well," he had ended up in rehab, then here and on probation. "She's a good kid though. I'm...you know. Not so much. Not with my record."

"She's a good kid with a brain of her own - let her make the choice, yeah? Could be she'll surprise you." Amanda pushed her sunglasses back up again to cut the glare and continued. "I was hooked on my powers for the most part, but I got heavy into the booze too. Then painkillers after another work injury a few years ago. These days, the doctors like to keep me on a tight leash with 'em, so I don't fall back into old habits." She tilted her head. "What got you into things in the first place?"

Matt waved a hand, gesturing randomly, "My powers. Sort of," he paused, swallowing the burger he had been eating then continued, "I got hit by a truck when I was 12. It was carrying chemicals and they spilled, which got in my eyes and blinded me. I started getting migraines pretty soon after. Everything bothered me. Spicy food, clothes, everything. They gave me all sorts of pills to stop the migraines, which apparently aren't common in guys," who knew? "Anyways, my dad was a boxer...and older. So he took a lot of pain pills to manage his pain. Mine weren't working so...I started taking his too. And it sort of snowballed. Turns out I just couldn't control my powers."

"You'd be surprised how often that happens. Mine, I got too close to a power source bigger than I could handle, and then couldn't handle it when it went away. Another student that was here a couple of years ago, Nori, she took tranqs to try and slow her brain down, since her powers gave her major ADD. Someone else here got hooked on Kick." The witch reached down for the glass of lemonade next to her lounger. "So it's something they've dealt with before. Don't be scared to ask for help because you feel like a freak, okay?"

Oh. No one had mentioned that. That made a difference too, "Good to know," Matt acknowledged, "This place is my third pitch, I can't strike out..." he trailed off, unsure if she would understand what he was saying. He had been so scared of being sent to juvie or something similar for not being able to handle things that he had sort of just shut himself away so he couldn't get in trouble. It was hard though, and boring, doing that.
"Is that like being bowled out in cricket?" she asked, mostly teasing - she'd been in the States long enough to have picked up baseball terminology, especially since Angelo was a fan. "And you'll find it harder to strike out of this place than most. There's only been one expulsion in the place's recent history and there's been some pretty big fuck ups." She decided against telling him that she'd been the one who'd been expelled - it kind of messed with the lesson she was trying to impart here. "You'll do all right, Matt. You landed on your feet here."

"Yeah, I know, but..." he trailed off, "doesn't mean I should chance it, right? I like it here, I don't want to leave," he admitted softly. This was a good place. The best he had ever lived, even when his dad had been alive. "But that's good to know. Maybe I'll see about some gum or something. More distraction."

"I'm not saying run wild or anything," the witch replied with a small chuckle. "Just that you don't have to be quite so paranoid. Do your best and don't forget to ask for help when you need it - the people here will do right by you."

That entire concept was still so foreign to him, but yet he hadn't seen anything to disprove it either. Just the opposite actually, "Old habits die hard," he admitted, ruefully. The fruit salad was good. "I've met some good people here. And they've not reported me for anything with my social worker, so...yeah. That's good."

"You'll do all right, Matt. And if it gets tough, I'm on the journal system. Just email me." What was it with her picking up stray students? She was as bad as Nate. "And it does get easier. You don't stop watching yourself, but things do get easier to manage."

His plate empty, but his belly still wanting dessert, Matt stood, "Thanks," he said sincerely, "I'll do that."