Backlog: Matt & Tandy

[x-daredevil.livejournal.com]

Meeting Tandy, Matt takes her for a tour and gets to know her.



Waiting at the foyer, Matt idly flipped his cane open and closed. He preferred folding canes and he tended to flip it open and shut when he was nervous or bored. In this case, he was mostly bored, though there was some nerves. There were two new people at the school and all that. He wanted another pill too, but he was trying to ration them out, he couldn't be greedy. Tomorrow. He'd take one tomorrow. Then it would be better.

Making her way down to the foyer from her room, she saw a boy her own age waiting there. "Matt?" Tandy asked as she came up to him. "I am Tandy." Now she got why he said he wouldn't notice that she was blonde, as she watched him flipped his cane. "Thanks for meeting up with me."

"Sure," he agreed. It wasn't like he had anything better to do on a Saturday. "So whatcha want to see? And where're you from?" His accent marked him as from New York.

"Um...I only saw a tiny bit of it when I came last night. But I have heard about a stable, a skate park, a lake and a quarry?" Tandy said to him of what she knew about the outside surroundings. "Ohio...Guessing from you accent you are from New York." Her uncle had the same kind of accent.

"Hell's Kitchen," Matt agreed, slipping his cane in his back pocket, then heading through the building to the back doors. "You like the outside, I guess," he remarked. Matt was not a fan of the great outdoors and his time in Genosha had only made it worse. He was a city boy.

"I heard of Hell's Kitchen, never went there myself." Tandy said looking at the halls and inside rooms as they passed by them towards the back entrance. "Well if I am going to be living here than I better get to know the outside as well as in the inside. I grew up in the suburbs. All there was to do was either go outside or play video games. What do you like?"

"I read a lot," Matt replied, "And gymnastics. Outside is Central Park to me," he grinned, pushing the back door open. "Pool's out here, tennis courts and all that." This was the outside he was most familiar with. "Been swimming and doing homework out here a lot right now."

"What kind of books?" Tandy asked as she walked outside and put on sunglasses on of her own. Looking up behind her at the huge manor, and then down at the pool and seeing the tennis courts off to the side. "Does a lot of people hang out back here?"

"Whatever I can get my hands on really," Matt answered, "I like scifi best though. I have a list of books and the library mails them to me as I send them back. Kinda like netflix," which was awesome. "And yeah, sometimes. There's been talk of baseball sometime soon too. There's generally something going on."

"Scifi is generally the best genre." Tandy agreed with Matt. "I haven't been to the library in years." She admitted and shook her head. "A baseball game that would be pretty awesome. When is that?"

"The Library of Congress operates a mailing braille book library," Matt explained, "I just let them know what I want and they mail it to me when it's available because braille books are crazy expensive and had to get. Plus, you get a lot of books in sections instead of one volume," He led her back to a pathway and unfolded his cane now, using it, "No idea. It might not happen. Beats me."

"Oh wow. I never thought of mail in books." Tandy said as she continued to walk down the pathway. "What else do people do here for fun?"

"It's only braille books, so far as I know," Matt had never heard of it happening otherwise. Most libraries didn't stock a lot of braille books though, so this allowed for them to share resources, "I guess it depends on the person," he paused, trying to think if he should mention that things were a little nutty do to Genosha. He decided not to. "I mean, lots of people play video games or basketball and stuff. Oh, and I like to watch boxing."

"What are some of the books have you read?" Tandy asked wondering what kind of scifi peeked his interest. "Boxing? I never watched it. Is it entertaining?"

"I just finished the entire Harry Potter series," Matt replied. He had liked those. Wade had given him a bunch of books too, "I like it. It's...not as good listen as it is watching, but it's pretty cool. There're all these rivalries and stuff. Most of the matches are pay per view though. There's amateur and pro stuff in the city you can watch live."

"Harry Potter? Who was your favorite character? Mine will always be the twins." Tandy wondered. She was a nerd at heart. "I think the only thing I have seen that comes close is wrestling but that is fake. I take it boxing isn't."

His favourite Harry Potter character? That was tough. "Snape," he finally said. "Everyone hated him and he wasn't a likeable person and was sometimes terrible, but he sacrificed everything for no glory or anything, just because it was right. And that's really amazing," he was such a complex character as he had developed. "I liked the Twins though, definitely. I think they'd be my seconds. Or maybe just the Weasely's in general. And no, boxing is definitely not fake. Ever." They got injured all the time, though that didn't make it real.

"Snape? He was a cool character. I really liked his story in the 6th and 7th book." Tandy smiled when he said the Weasely's in general, though Tandy would have to agree she wasn't too fond of Percy. "What got you into boxing?"

Percy wasn't perhaps the most liked Weasely, but the others made up for his lameness, "My dad was a boxer," Matt explained. "I used to go to all his matches."

"Oh wow. That is pretty cool. How was that like?" Tandy asked, wondering what it was like to know a boxer.

"Fun," he replied, unsure quite what she meant. It was different perhaps than his dad being an accountant or something like that since he never had regular hours and often worked nights and weekends. It also meant that he didn't have a lot of other job skills for when he wasn't boxing. "Boxing's pretty intense, you know? But when two guys are going toe to toe, it's pretty awesome."

Tandy didn't know how intense boxing was, but she was going to take Matt's word on it. "So your dad was a boxer? What does he do now? Coach?"

Matt shook his head, "He died a few years ago," he explained. "That's the other side of boxing. Some of his fights were fixed and he refused to throw one to make people happy. So they killed him."

Instantly Tandy regretted her previous questions - but how did she know? "I am sorry. That sucks." He didn't say anything about his mom, so she wasn't going there. "Fixed? Like they already knew who was going to win before the match even started? Isn't that like cheating?"

"You didn't know," Matt replied. He wasn't put out by her asking or anything, "But yeah, fixed. It's definitely cheating. I don't think my dad knew, I mean, I heard him when he found out and he was surprised. And he didn't do it," he didn't mention how his dad had worked for the mob to help pay the bills, "Lots of money in boxing, making bets and stuff like that. Matches and stuff are fixed all the time. Don't make it right, but ....happens anyways."

"Whatever makes the people happy..." Tandy said with a sigh. So many good reality entertainment was fake or fixed - all of it was to make the people happy. "There is something I was wondering, what is your power?"

"What's yours?" Matt asked, turning the question around to her. "You can guess mine. I've been using it this entire time."

"I can form daggers out of light. And I am forming a habit of glowing in the dark." Tandy tilted her head to the side when Matt said he had been using his powers this entire time. "Uh...you can hear things from miles away?"

Sighing, Matt made a face. Light power. Awesome. "Enhanced senses, yeah," he agreed, surprised that she had gotten it. It was a subtle thing. "I can use my hearing like a sonar too, to get an idea of what's around me. No colour or expressions or anything like that though. So I can't see you turn into a glow worm."

"So you can see outlines? And you really don't want to see my turn into a glow worm...it is annoying." Tandy said regarding her powers. "Sonar hearing...that sounds...pretty cool."

Matt sort of bobbed his head in a nod, "Basically," he agreed, "It's...not quite that simple. But yeah. Sound hits something and bounces off, giving me an image of that point, so the picture can be pretty incomplete depending on how the sound is being directed and things. Like sonar," it was sort of hard to explain, but he was able to use it pretty well now and improving. "I think being a glow worm could be fun. Bet you're popular at raves."

"Like a submarine, but better." Tandy said and smirked. "So the more sound hitting something means better picture...kind of like you can see the vibration of something." Laughing at the thought of her being a glow stick. "I am not sure, I haven't been to a party since I got these powers. Everything moved so fast you know. One minute I am in New York, the next I am back home, then next I am back in New York."

"Sounds like my life, bounced around like a yo-yo," Matt agreed dryly. "But yes. The more sound, the better the picture. Except if it's so loud it hurts," then he had a great picture and a migraine. No thanks. "I'm sure you'd be a hit."

"I am sure people would be asking why I am glowing..." Tandy pointed out with a nod. "And it comes and goes, I really don't have much control over it."

Maybe. Maybe not. Matt hadn't been to a rave, but he had heard things. Plus, this was New York. People didn't always ask questions. " You'll get control, he assured her, "that's the whole point to the school. And the way I see it, if I can get control, anyone can. It doesn't always happen overnight though."

Tandy smiled at Matt, "Good point. Just don't want to hurt anyone else, you know." Looking up at the clouds in the sky. "But the classes aren't that bad? Are they?"

"Classes are alright," Matt replied, "Most of mine are a little different 'cause I'm blind, but they're mostly like normal classes. And we can take an elective at North Salem High and do extra curriculars and stuff. Oh, and we do a project as a group here too, which is pretty cool," he liked how the courses were set up. "I'm kinda a nerd. I like reading." "What kind of projects? And nothing wrong with reading, and haven't you heard? Being a nerd is totally in now and days." Tandy said and smirked a bit. "My mom is designing clothing that trend to that type of group...who knows how the high fashion will take it?"

"Uh, whatever we want to do?" there wasn't a project right now, "It just depends on the group. There's not very many of us in the high school, you know? So it's just whatever we want to do as a group. Like build a duck boat or whatever. Or research something. I don't think it matters," Matt tried to explain, but it was a sort of new thing they were doing, "Wait? There's nerd fashion? I thought that nerds weren't in fashion because that was part of being a nerd?" Tandy smiled before she giggled, thinking of building a duck boat- imagining a boat in a shape of a boat. Tandy laughed again and shook her head. "Yea, it is what is 'in' now. Besides, nerds do rule the world, everyone knows that."

"Eventually," Matt agreed. "Huh. Well. Learn something new every day. But please, Tandy, look at me," he gestured to his jeans and t-shirt, "Do I look like a guy who cares about fashion? Nerd or otherwise? So long as my pants fit and I can wash my t-shirts all together without them getting messed up, I'm happy." Tandy looked over at Matt and tilted her head to the side as she looked at his clothes. "Then Matt you have created your own fashion style, and it suits you well." Giving him a compliment.

"Awesome. Who knew I'd ever be a fashion icon," he joked. "I am sure you look very nice. Your parents are in fashion then? So you've probably got the best clothes." Tandy smirked slightly, "My mother is. She used to be a fashion model now owns her own clothing line and all. I get what I can. My step-dad's family owns a winery, that has been in his family since my great grandfather."

"Huh. So you're probably really pretty," weren't fashion models pretty? And she had good clothes. "Sounds like your family is kinda cool. Clothes, modeling, wine, all swanky." Wow and Matt was way out of his depth now. "I don't look at myself in that kind of light. It is what it is." Tandy said and smirked, though she was told that she was, mainly from her dad but that didn't count. "They sound cool but they are anything but. Mom travels a lot and she really doesn't care what happens with me. My dad is the same way travel wise but at least he makes time. Before here I was alone most of the time, you get used to being alone."

"Yeah," Matt knew all about being alone. "I guess...I dunno what's worse. Family that's not around and don't care or not having family. My dad died a few years ago. I'm one of the foster kids here. There's a few of us." "Well whatever the case is, we are all here in the same place." Tandy placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a sweet smile that he would never see. "Let's not talk about family at the moment. Shall we continue our tour?"

"Definitely," Matt agreed, grateful as he led her through the school. "And y'know, like I said, there are lots of worse places."