log: Matt and Kurt

[x-daredevil.livejournal.com]

Backdated to 8/24/13, Matt's aerial show for his summer classes! After his performance, he chats with Kurt about aerial arts and the X-Men.



Circus, circus

There was no stage per se for the show, it was just in the gym they trained in, but Matt thought it was still a pretty awesome show. His performance over, he padded through the crowded, dark space to get his water bottle. He was covered in sweat and clad in his best gymnastics clothes, red lycra pants and a black and red Spandex shirt. Red was his favorite color.

"Remind you of your glory days?" He asked Kurt, drinking his water.

"Bite your tongue!" Kurt retorted, laughing. "My glory days are not over yet. But yes, it did."

Uh huh, sure. "You're old, admit it," Matt teased, "Gray and old and crotchety! Time to let old and busted make way for the new hotness," that was him, of course. Everyone got the MIB reference.

"I am 36! Hardly decrepit just yet. But", he admitted, "a little out of practice now I am not doing it full time. And you did do very well tonight."

36 was old to an 18 yr old. That was twice his age! "Thanks," Matt finished the water bottle with ease, but he had plenty more for later. "Hey, between the gymnastics and trapeze, I was able to shoot through the beginners level pretty quick and go on to intermediate classes, which was awesome," the beginners stuff was good, but he had started getting bored and finding things pretty easy. "I think this could be good for the other stuff I signed up for."

"Every additional skill can be applied there", Kurt agreed. "All the more so if you are a quick learner."

"Well, the way I see it, I need something else to help," Matt replied, "because I don't really have any sort of offensive anything. Or defensive anything. I don't teleport or blast stuff or whatever. I'm not even super-strong or durable. Just senses. So I need to be able to keep up at least a little with everyone else," including the bad guys he had been reading about. Their powers were just as formidable.

"Not all of us have offensive or defensive powers", Kurt said gently. "The teleportation helps, I admit, but I am just as breakable as you if someone does manage to hit me - and it has happened. We all train in physical fitness as part of team membership."

"Yeah, but you can teleport," Matt knew it wasn't entirely offensive or defensive, it was something that could be used either way depending on need. "I'd like to avoid the breaking as much as possible," which meant training like this. "I can just tell you your pulse," not entirely true, his powers didn't bother with things like up and down or front or back, he had a 360 view of what he could sense at all times for better spacial awareness, plus he could 'see' around corners and through walls depending on the sound waves and the thickness and types of barriers. His sonar was incredibly useful.

"You are being far too self-deprecating", Kurt scolded him. "You can do many more things than that and you know it. In fact, you might even be too valuable to take unnecessary risks with."

Okay, so he knew he was being a little hard on himself, but the last bit surprised him, "How so?" He asked, genuinely confused.

"Which other one of us can see in all directions at once, even if something is in the way?" Kurt pointed out. "Even the telepaths can be deceived by exceptionally good shielding or psi-resistant powers, and not know someone is coming, but you would. You, placed at some vantage point and able to give warning, might just be the thing that saves someone from disaster."

And Matt was psi-resistant as well. His brain showed up as static to most telepaths because of the sheer volume of data his brain had to process. "True," Matt agreed, "And I see just as well in the dark as the light."

"Exactly. Not that you should not learn self-defense and hand-to-hand, our work is very rarely safe and predictable, but it might be in all our interest to keep you out of harm's way as far as possible during missions."

Part of Matt wanted to resist and insist that he didn't need to be coddled because of his blindness. On the other hand, that had never once factored into anything Kurt had just said. Everything had been about his powers and completely true. "Well, I guess it depends on the mission," he admitted after a pause. "I wanna do more than just be the relay guy, if possible." There was also a distance limit to his powers.

"Depending on the mission", Kurt agreed, "there may well be more interesting things for you to do. And of course, there will be times it becomes a free for all."

That was the nature of any fight, "I guess we'll see," Matt replied. He hadn't yet gone on his first mission, "So. Back to the show? I'm done, but there are other acts."

"Back to the show." He smiled. "It would be rude to give them less than our full attention."