log: Matt and Julian

[x-daredevil.livejournal.com]

Matt meets Julian and gets him on the uneven bars in the gym. Suit-ruining occurs and they establish that Julian won't be going out for the next Olympic team




Flipping over the high bar in the gym a few more times and then twisting, Matt dismounted with a twisting flip to land on the mats beneath him. Holding the position for a moment, he relaxed to go get a towel to wipe some of the sweat out of his eyes and some water. "Bar's yours," He said to the guy that had come in midway through his routine and had stood a polite distance away.

Matt wasn't sure who he was, but he doubted he wanted the high bar, he wasn't dressed in workout clothes, much less gymnastics wear. Still, he liked showing off and didn't mind being watched.

Julian slowly approached the younger man and looked up at the gymnastics equipment- none of which he could name. "That was crazy impressive," he'd only been passing by when he'd noticed the insane display of agility, it had reminded him of the students training at the temple. "And no one wants to see me on this- it wouldn't be pretty."

Grinning, Matt grabbed his towel, wiping the sweat out of his face. Sweat in his eyes would still sting and be uncomfortable even if it didn't do anything else. "I'm sure you could learn," Matt countered, amused. "Just takes practice. And a lack of sanity or fear."

"I suppose I already possess both of those qualities," he smirked, turning to face the athlete. "I used to jump off the roof, trying to learn to fly...it never worked," Julian chuckled, "but what you just did takes talent, not just practice. I grew out of my daredevil phase a while back," he shrugged and extended his hand, "Julian Keller, by the way."

"That's about as close as I get to flying without someone else carrying me," Matt admitted, unwinding the wraps around his wrists and hands that helped to protect them instead of shaking Julian's hand. "Matt Murdock. Resident wannabe flier and gymnastics junkie. You're too young to have given it up completely though."

Julian snorted, dropping his hand back to his side, "Fair enough, but I still don't know if I'd be able to do what you just did." With a shrug, Julian walked over to the lowest bar and jumped up on it, giving himself a TK push forward and sending him flying from the bar toward the wall. His shields kicked in just a second before impact, saving his body from the impact, though he still felt it. "Ow."

"Not... quite how that works," Matt laughed, "How'd you do that? TK?" He wasn't familiar with the other man's powers. "You should use a spotter anyways. Get some chalk and I'll give you a boost."

Getting up off the floor, Julian rubbed his neck, "I'm not really dressed for this either." His vest had ripped at some point- a moment of panic swept over him as he checked his pocket watch. It passed as he found it intact. "Yeah, telekinesis, though I'm still working on it. I'm no where near Haller or Doctor Grey-Summers' level." He shrugged, "Probably stronger than Miss Pryor though, though she has that telepathy thing going on."

"So?" Matt asked, dismissing the clothing concerns. "It'll be fun. Take off whatever you need, empty your pockets. No TK this time. I won't try to force you to contort into weird, breakable ways." This was probably a terrible idea. Let's do it!

Julian sighed, he wasn't getting out of this. He had never excelled at the martial arts training at the temple- or at least not the unarmed stuff. "Alright- it's not like the fall will hurt me," he stripped off the torn vest and stripped down until he was only wearing his slacks, undershirt and suspenders...a trip to the tailor would be on the schedule for tomorrow. "So how do I do this?"

"Chalk," there was no need to wrap Julian's hands, but chalk was a must. Rubbing some of the powder from the bucket on Julian's hands, Matt held the other man's waist firmly, "Jump to grab the bar, I'll help you up. Then just kinda....do whatever feels right." He didn't think it would get too complicated.

With a slight leap, Julian grasped the bar and hung there for a moment in silence, "So then I just...." He started to swing a little, but wasn't certain how to get above the bar like his young spotter had been able to. He stopped swinging and just hung there, "I can see why you enjoy this so much," he said dryly.

Oh. Whoops. Matt hadn't anticipated Julian being unable to do much more. Gripping the other man's knees, Matt helped give him another boost, "That help?" he asked, "Get moving, give yourself some momentum to help you."

With the boost, Julian began to swing a bit more, putting his muscles to work as he began to get more and more height. "Okay," he said, breathing harder than he thought he would, "here goes." The uncoordinated flight through the air without the aide of telekinesis was likely more awkward to look upon than Julian thought it was, and he thought it was pretty awkward. His fingers lightly grazed the second uneven bar as he sailed by it and landed on the mat beneath it, almost sticking the landing.

Maybe Julian needed a visual to copy? Offering him a hand up, Matt grinned, "Almost!" he praised, unsure if he should tell the guy to stick to whatever it was that he was good at or to try again, "Wanna go again?" There. He gave a choice. "It takes practice like anything else, but you get better. I've just been doing it a long time."

Julian dusted some of the chalk off his hands, directly onto his suit pants before he realized how much they had cost. "How long have you been doing this?"

"Started gymnastics when I was 6," Matt answered, "but couldn't compete after I went blind. And I couldn't do it at all when I was in foster care so really...I restarted about 4 years ago. I've also taken trapeze and I do aerial arts at a special gym in the city a few days a week."

"Ah, that's really cool, sucks that you had to...wait-", what Matt had just said sunk in slowly, perhaps because his ankle was hurting a bit, or perhaps because it hadn't seemed possible. "You're blind?!"

Mounting the low bar like it was nothing, Matt nodded, "As a bat," he agreed, swinging slightly so his feet were on the low bar. Standing on it, he grabbed the top bar and swung onto it, hanging for a moment before gaining momentum and then swinging over it completely. For him, it was positively sedate,"I thought everyone knew?"

Julian closed his dropped jaw, "I'm newly returned. Dude, that's awesome!" He held up a hand to wave off the gaff, "Not that you're blind, sucks. But your talent...what is your power? Being awesome?"

"Eh," Matt couldn't much shrug when he was in a handstand on the high bar. Swinging down, he dismounted without fanfare, "Not being able to drive sucks. But my power is totally being awesome. You guessed right!"

With a smirk, Julian tried to clean the remaining chalk off his hands, "Pretty awesome, Matt- I take it you'll be contributing your talents toward Xavier's worst-kept-secret?"

Laughing, Matt had to admit, it was really the truth. "Already am," he admitted. "I'm a trainee. You going to join the leather brigade, too?" Somehow, Matt couldn't see that.

Julian laughed, quite loudly, "Nonono, I have issues with authority apparently. I kept getting grounded while I was a trainee, so I quit." Julian took a seat on the bench, getting his button-down shirt back on, "Plus, Doctor Grey-Summers and I had different training styles- and it's not like there is a shortage of telekinetics around here...most of them better at it than I am."

Being a telekinetic with his powers would be so badass. As it was....not so much. Going to grab his water bottle, Matt took a healthy sip before recapping it, "It's not for everyone," he agreed genially, "What do you plan to do then? Now that you're back?"

"I'm helping with the New Mutants," Julian shrugged and started to retie his tie- wondering how a bow-tie would look on him as he did. "I'm also trying to make myself ridiculously rich and I'm supposed to be going to school- but arranged to start in January." Standing back up, Julian looked at himself in a nearby mirror and put on his suspenders and vest.

"You let me know if you figure out how to grow a money tree," Matt laughed, not realizing that Julian was working with a different financial scope than he was. "What school? I'm at Pace."

"NYU, though I was at Stanford until recently," Julian kept the fact that no other school would take him to himself. He walked closer to the mirror and re-tied his tie. "What are you studying? If its biology, we'll have to collaborate on that money tree idea."

"It's not like NYU is anything to sneeze at," Matt replied, both impressed and not at the same time. "It's a good school. I would have applied there, but it's an hour's commute by train, minimum, which is kinda a lot," though he did go into Manhattan regularly for his aerial arts stuff and thought nothing of that.

"Oh, I do hear it's a good school," Julian turned to face Matt, once again fully dressed. "Thanks for the experience, Matt- you're quite the daredevil. Sadly, I don't think I have it in me to be a gymnast, I guess I'll just have to settle for flying."

Matt grinned, "See you around then, Julian," he offered his hand to the other man.

"I see what you did there," unsure if Matt could see his smile, Julian gave him a firm handshake. "It was good to meet you, Matt."