Log: Matt & Amanda

[x-daredevil.livejournal.com]

Amanda takes Matt out for holiday shopping and a stop for lunch.



Paper and plastic bags nestled about their feet, Matt was grateful when Amanda suggested a break from shopping. He didn't have a ton of people to buy for, but it was time consuming and difficult, even with help. Plus, he was not much for shopping even when he had suggested this excursion. Normally too, he would have asked Wade, but had instead asked Amanda since he needed to shop for Wade. Amanda was pretty cool actually about it all. Fiddling with the ear plugs in his ear with a finger, Matt popped it out and then made a face. As annoying as the ear plugs could be, they were better than none at all.

"What looks good here?" he asked, getting the second one out. This restaurant, like most others, did not have a braille menu. It was reasonably quiet though, which was more important to him right now.

"Let's see, we've got the usual range - burgers, sandwiches, pasta, fries... The tuna melts are pretty good, not too strongly flavoured," Amanda suggested, remembering Kyle's own taste sensitivities and scanning the menu for things that wouldn't impact on Matt's taste buds too much. "How you holding up?"

Matt shrugged, "I'm...going to be glad when we get back," he admitted, "but I'm not going to gnaw someone's arm off for sneezing....yet," it was sort of tempting. He was going to put the ear plugs back in in a minute, "The tuna melt sounds good. Does it come with fries?" He liked fries, but only when they were very lightly salted. Too much salt made them absolutely disgusting. "I think I'm almost done with shopping. Just need Korvus, I think," he ran through his mental list. It wasn't very long, but he had no idea what to get his suitemate.

"This is America, everything comes with fries," Amanda replied with a chuckle. "This place is good for actually listening to orders, too, so if there's something special you want, just let them know and they should do it." She stretched her back a little, listening to the pop. "And yeah, I think I'm with you on being nearly done with the shopping. I know exactly what you can get Korvus, though. He's into punk music - I know where you can find something he'll like." Possibly after she went into the store first and got them to turn the music down, given their habit of playing it close to ear-shattering.

"Good. Fries are awesome, but only when they're not doused in salt, then they're gross," and gross fries were disgusting and not eaten. "Oh, that's a good idea," Matt agreed, nodding as he pushed the ear plugs back in. At this range he would still hear Amanda perfectly, but it would help to block out some of the background noise, "I don't know a lot about punk music, but we were talking bands one day. Maybe I could get him some Fallout Boy or My Chemical Romance?" They weren't punk, but he thought Korvus might like them anyways.

Amanda wrinkled her nose a little at the suggestions - the punk purist in her was not impressed, but she realised not everyone was into the Brit punk scene, either. "Maybe," she said. "I remember back when I first started at the school, my uncle Pete dropped off a bunch of burned CDs with all sorts of punk music on them. Mostly British stuff, old school. I could do some copies of them for you to pass on as well?"

The waitress arrived, a middle-aged motherly sort of woman. "What can I get you folks today?" she asked, a Southern drawl unmistakeable.

Ordering quickly, Matt turned back to Amanda, "Sounds good, sure," he agreed, "I'm more into rap and hiphop than punk, but if you know the good stuff, awesome," not everyone was a purist or even knew all the ins and outs of the different music genres, "Punk's okay though. It just sounds a lot like screaming," plus, he didn't like music loud so that tended to factor in as apparently punk could not be enjoyed at anything less than ear-splitting.

"Cheeseburger and salad for me, please. And a coke." Amanda gave the waitress a smile and a nod before turning back to Matt and their music discussion. "Punk's a lot more broad than most people think," she explained. "Some people just limit it to the Sex Pistols, who did a lot of screaming since Johnny Rotten couldn't sing for shite, but then you get someone like the Pixies who actually can be listened to without your eardrums bleeding. Then again, I tend to think rap's all bigshot bastards big-noting themselves and threatening to cap each other, but I figure I haven't heard the right stuff."

Matt listened, nodding slightly. Due to his blindness he rarely offered a lot in the way of body language, "Well some of it is," he agreed easily. "You gotta be tough if you want to make out as a rapper. There's east coast and west coast rap though, you get different sounds and topics from each. And there is some clean rap. Some."

"If you say so - tell you what, I'll show you mine if you show me yours. Music swap, yeah? I'll make you up a CD of punk music you might like, and you do a rap one for me," the witch suggested.

"Sounds good," he agreed. Matt wasn't against punk, he just didn't know a lot about it. Plus, there was the issue of listening to it at appropriate levels, which for him was much quieter than what anyone else preferred. That was true with rap too or anything else. "What else do you like? I mean musically?"

"And here I was thinking you were making a move on me," she joked. "Um, let's think. Electronica, sometimes, the stuff you get at dance clubs. Alternative type rock." No surprises there. "Some classical, too. I had an ex who was into all that and played piano, so it kind of rubbed off on me. There's this bloke called Rob Dugan who combines classical and electronic - he did some of the music for the Matrix movie, the good one."

Matt laughed a little, "You're what? At least 20," Not that he really thought 20 was old, but what would she be interested in him for? He was 16. "Anyways, that sounds cool. Don't think I've seen the Matrix though. Heard of it. Any good?" Matt was woefully ignorant of a lot of movies.

"Watch it sonny Jim, or I'll spank you," she teased back. "And the Matrix wasn't bad, tho' it might be lost on you. Lots of special effects and fight scenes. How does that work for you, any way? I know there's the running commentary stuff for the blind in some theatres, but how do you go with lots of action?"

"Depends on the movie and the quality of the commentary,"he explained. "It's more of an afterthought in most movies. And it's only in the theater versions, not the DVDs or anything liked that. There are some TV shows with dvs, like the Simpsons, but most don't so...." He trailed off, "I don't go to a lot of movies or watch a lot of TV, except when I need. The internet and computers aren't even much help since they're not usually designed for blind users. They can be, easily, but they aren't because it's not required like closed captioning is."

"Sounds like a lot of bollocks for you," she observed in her blunt way. "And since the blind aren't as organised as the deaf community is, you get overlooked more."

Matt nodded, that was very true, "We're not as numerous and there are fewer kids. A lot of people lose their sight as adults, so things like Braille aren't as important to them. Believe it or not the majority of blind people can't read Braille with any real ease and with the increase in audio technology there is less and less need," he preferred Braille thanks to his heightened senses and found it much easier than audio books and the like.

"How long has it been now, for you? she asked, as their food arrived. "It was an accident, yeah?"

"Yeah," Matt used the barest of touches to ascertain where his food was before picking his sandwich up to eat it. It smelled good. "Four years ago. I was hit by a truck. Well, he almost hit me. He swerved and the barrels of chemicals he was carrying weren't done right and some fell and spilled on me. That's why I have burn scars on my face," he gestured to his temples vaguely. At this point they were as healed as they were probably going to get and he had been told that they were near-invisible.

"Bugger," was Amanda's response as she stuffed a fry in her mouth. "Still, you've adapted bloody well, considering it wasn't that long ago." Four years ago she'd been re-scarred by Chandra's ritual, funnily enough. "How's the food?"

"Good, yours?" Matt replied around a half eaten mouthful, then he swallowed. "Oh yeah, so well. Or did you forget the 'drug addict' part?" he asked. "Or the parts about getting arrested and juvie and being held back two years and all that? Oh yeah. So well."

"You're alive, aren't you?" Amanda's tone was neutral, but held a note underneath. "You've got your shite, sure, but considering the alternative? You're in a school where you can learn to use your powers and get off the junk, with people who get the whole deal and don't really care about what you did. 'S all about what you do now. So, yeah, you're doing bloody well."

She had a point and he was mature enough to admit it, even if it was only grudgingly. His father wasn't alive after all. That helped to put it into perspective, "Hey, I didn't say I wasn't doing well now. Just that overall...it could have been better," not that he would have done anything differently if given the option. Unless one option was for his father to be alive again. Then he would give anything.

"We all wish things had been better," Amanda replied, a bit more gently. "But if wishes were horses, we'd all be eating steak." She chuckled a little at her own absurdity - hanging around with Doug meant she knew a lot more American pop culture references than she'd used to. "And there's nothing saying we can't make the most of things now, yeah?"

That made no sense, and Matt laughed at the turn of phrase understanding the intent behind it even if she butchered it horribly, "True. And I try. I like the school and stuff, overall. Better than anywhere else I've been," and that actually included his apartment with his dad. "Anyways, we're almost done with the shopping. Thanks."

"Any time," Amanda replied, and she meant it.