Ev & Matt, Thursday afternoon
Aug. 17th, 2017 04:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsMatt teaches Ev how to fight without sight, and it's overwhelming.
"Too tight?" Matt asked, checking the blindfold he had just tied around Ev's head. It wasn't slipping or coming off at least. "Can you see anything through it?" Hopefully not, but Everett had provided the blindfold, so who knew? The material felt heavy enough.
It was tied so tightly around his face that Ev could not open his eyes even if he wanted to. He was as blind as a sighted person could be. Good. "It's like I stayed up all night eating 64 slices of American cheese," he assured Matt. "I've synched with Clint and Kyle before, but I imagine their enhanced senses are nothing like yours. It's going to be overwhelming without this."
"Clint sees detail and spatial differences, no colour, " Matt agreed, he was usr to how his adopted brother's eyes worked differently than his own version of sight. "I get the echolocation from sound. From how we describe things, the end results are fairly similar, though he has more differentiation, we just come at them from two different ways. And he doesn't have the other senses adding their input, " it was actually very interesting in a way.
Kyle he knew had enhanced senses, but he wasn't too sure how Kyle's eyes worked specifically. Mostly, they agreed about the awfulness of stomach difficulties brought on by eating the wrong thing.
"Clint still sees," Ev said, walking slowly around the mat to get a feel for the space. "With you, though, I expect my brain to process input entirely differently. Hopefully this won't give me a seizure . . ."
That was true. The input methods were vastly different, "All I can tell you on that is I break the MRI machine," Matt explained, "I apparently process so much data at any given time without even thinking about it, that analyzing my brain is....difficult. Same reason it's hard to read my mind," so a seizure was a possible, but unfortunate, possibility.
"As long as we have the hot doctor with the force field powers on standby, I'm sure I'll survive." Though he did not need to be close, Ev followed the sound of Matt's voice and stopped a couple feet in front of him. Neither could see his aura glowing as it reached out to synch with Matt. Even blindfolded, the world exploded with ultra-fine resolution. He could smell his own deodorant, hear the locker room showers running, feel the irregularities of the foam base under his bare feet.
"Whoa."
And "see" Matt's face briefly luminescing in the otherwise black field of his vision. The image disappeared as quickly as it came.
A clicking noise came from Matt's hand, from a little gadget similar to a canasta that he held between his thumb and other fingers. "That help?" he asked, keeping his voice low without pausing the clicking. He had learned a long time ago to use the reverberations and sound waves to replace his sight. It would be similar, though maybe not as easy for Ev. Or maybe easier. Matt wasn't sure if being able to see helped more or not.
Ev almost slammed his palms into his ears to bring silence and "blind" himself again. "No no no, stop," he besought Matt, his voice barely above a whisper but still coherent. "Just, quiet for a sec. Jesus."
Oops. Stopping immediately, Matt realized that it was probably more of an adjustment for Ev than it had been for him. "Sorry," he added, standing still until Everett told him otherwise.
The pain subsided but the over-stimulation reverberated, and Ev still could not "see" Matt. As if he had stared into a bright light and his eyes were still adjusting to normal. "Shit," he finally said softly. "That was jarring."
Thinking back, Matt tried to remember what it was like being blind when his powers came in. Granted, he lost his sight almost simultaneously, so it was an adjustment, a big one, but not the same kind as Everett was going through now. How had he dealt with it? Slowly and with migraine medicine until his uncles had figured it out. Slowly and carefully, he took Everett's hand, placing it on his shoulder, still facing the other man and letting him make the first move for what he wanted to do.
Pain or no, Ev was never one to quit, definitely not so soon after starting. He would deal with the long-term risks of mimicking Matt's powers later. First, it was imperative he be able to use them. "Thanks," he said, standing up straight and steadying himself. "Let's . . . start simple. Maneuverability. I know your cane is only for show. How do you determine what's around you?"
"Sound," Matt replied simply, "I started using my cane, actually," and he could get it if needed, "the sound it makes when arcing through the air in front of my feet would tell me what was in front of me. Not everything, but at least at that level. Other noises would tell me other things. That's why the clicker. I still do that sometimes, usually for something specific. It's rarely a full picture though. I might see the branches of a tree in the wind, but not the trunk, so I have to know there's a trunk, too. Or that a mailbox sits on the curb, don't forget it's there."
"And in combat, when you don't have any tools and need to react immediately? Your echolocation is clear enough when your opponent moves?"
Matt nodded, "Heartbeats are very telling," he explained, "I don't need to use my cane, but it makes things easier, I'm used to it. Habit, if you will. It's all about how you focus."
Ev could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears but could not perceive Matt's until he pressed his hand against the other man's chest. He felt it before he actually heard it, but it stayed in his ears even when he pulled his hand away. "Your shirt's really soft," he said, chuckling. "What kind of fabric softener do you use? Ah, you're probably really sensitive to texture, aren't you?"
"I am," Matt agreed, "and tastes. Smells. Basically, everything," he did his best not to let it be a problem, but he had to admit, he was grateful that he could truly relax when he was here. It made sleeping much easier. "New York is useful in its way though, being so noisy. I almost never need extra noise to understand my surroundings."
"It's not overload? Not just the sounds but the . . . aroma." Nicer word than odor. "I guess if you grew up with it, though, it all becomes background. Okay." Ev lifted his fists and fell into a standard boxing stance. "I'll try to tag you. See if I can reorient when you dodge. Sound good?"
"It can be overload, absolutely," Matt agreed, "Took a while to get used to it, figure out what worked for me to help focus to block things out. Martial arts helped a lot," he dropped into a simple boxing stance, fists up to defend himself. "Sure," he agreed, bouncing gently on the balls of his feet as he waited for Everett to make a move.
With the echo of Matt's heartbeat still lightly thumping in his ears, Ev threw a punch in Matt's general direction. He missed, unsurprisingly, and he followed with a short flurry. He caught nothing but air.
If he did not know any better, he could have sworn that Matt had not even moved the whole time.
Matt hadn't moved. "Focus," he instructed, "Block everything out except my heartbeat. Nothing else matters." Meditation helped, but you had to be open for it to work. He wasn't sure Everett was open to it, at least not right now.
Ev grunted in response. The ambient sounds assaulted his ears, making it seem almost impossible to filter out Matt's thump thump from everything else. An auditory needle in a haystack. Ev's next several attacks met similar fates, although one nearly grazed Matt. Lucky hit or well-aimed strike? He could not tell.
"Let's go to my room," Matt suggested, it was soundproofed, so there would be less noise surrounding them. Of course, they would also no longer have the gym to work in, but they didn't seem to need a lot of space, "Let's go even smaller."
While Ev hesitated to enter an even more controlled space than he already was in — how would he be able to translate this to real life if he kept cutting out real variables? — it was apparent he had jumped into the deep end without a life jacket. He had to swallow his pride and take a step back.
"We could also try the Danger Room," he suggested. "Less likely to break anything valuable. And it can record biometrics. I love me some data."
"I'm not concerned with you breaking anything," Matt replied softly, voice a little dry. He was not exactly know for his aesthetic decor. More like minimalism meets blind dude. "But alright. Do you have access? I don't, much," he didn't use the Danger Room outside of things with Gen X, which he hadn't done in months.
Ev nodded. "I earn my keep by helping the children. And some of the adults. I don't have the privileges the X-Men have, but enough to get us in for safe training and no destruction of personal property." The glow of his aura faded, and with it went the flood of input. The loss staggered him just as its manifestation had. He removed the blindfold and rubbed his eyes to adjust to the light again.
"Then let's do it," Matt replied, willing.
"Too tight?" Matt asked, checking the blindfold he had just tied around Ev's head. It wasn't slipping or coming off at least. "Can you see anything through it?" Hopefully not, but Everett had provided the blindfold, so who knew? The material felt heavy enough.
It was tied so tightly around his face that Ev could not open his eyes even if he wanted to. He was as blind as a sighted person could be. Good. "It's like I stayed up all night eating 64 slices of American cheese," he assured Matt. "I've synched with Clint and Kyle before, but I imagine their enhanced senses are nothing like yours. It's going to be overwhelming without this."
"Clint sees detail and spatial differences, no colour, " Matt agreed, he was usr to how his adopted brother's eyes worked differently than his own version of sight. "I get the echolocation from sound. From how we describe things, the end results are fairly similar, though he has more differentiation, we just come at them from two different ways. And he doesn't have the other senses adding their input, " it was actually very interesting in a way.
Kyle he knew had enhanced senses, but he wasn't too sure how Kyle's eyes worked specifically. Mostly, they agreed about the awfulness of stomach difficulties brought on by eating the wrong thing.
"Clint still sees," Ev said, walking slowly around the mat to get a feel for the space. "With you, though, I expect my brain to process input entirely differently. Hopefully this won't give me a seizure . . ."
That was true. The input methods were vastly different, "All I can tell you on that is I break the MRI machine," Matt explained, "I apparently process so much data at any given time without even thinking about it, that analyzing my brain is....difficult. Same reason it's hard to read my mind," so a seizure was a possible, but unfortunate, possibility.
"As long as we have the hot doctor with the force field powers on standby, I'm sure I'll survive." Though he did not need to be close, Ev followed the sound of Matt's voice and stopped a couple feet in front of him. Neither could see his aura glowing as it reached out to synch with Matt. Even blindfolded, the world exploded with ultra-fine resolution. He could smell his own deodorant, hear the locker room showers running, feel the irregularities of the foam base under his bare feet.
"Whoa."
And "see" Matt's face briefly luminescing in the otherwise black field of his vision. The image disappeared as quickly as it came.
A clicking noise came from Matt's hand, from a little gadget similar to a canasta that he held between his thumb and other fingers. "That help?" he asked, keeping his voice low without pausing the clicking. He had learned a long time ago to use the reverberations and sound waves to replace his sight. It would be similar, though maybe not as easy for Ev. Or maybe easier. Matt wasn't sure if being able to see helped more or not.
Ev almost slammed his palms into his ears to bring silence and "blind" himself again. "No no no, stop," he besought Matt, his voice barely above a whisper but still coherent. "Just, quiet for a sec. Jesus."
Oops. Stopping immediately, Matt realized that it was probably more of an adjustment for Ev than it had been for him. "Sorry," he added, standing still until Everett told him otherwise.
The pain subsided but the over-stimulation reverberated, and Ev still could not "see" Matt. As if he had stared into a bright light and his eyes were still adjusting to normal. "Shit," he finally said softly. "That was jarring."
Thinking back, Matt tried to remember what it was like being blind when his powers came in. Granted, he lost his sight almost simultaneously, so it was an adjustment, a big one, but not the same kind as Everett was going through now. How had he dealt with it? Slowly and with migraine medicine until his uncles had figured it out. Slowly and carefully, he took Everett's hand, placing it on his shoulder, still facing the other man and letting him make the first move for what he wanted to do.
Pain or no, Ev was never one to quit, definitely not so soon after starting. He would deal with the long-term risks of mimicking Matt's powers later. First, it was imperative he be able to use them. "Thanks," he said, standing up straight and steadying himself. "Let's . . . start simple. Maneuverability. I know your cane is only for show. How do you determine what's around you?"
"Sound," Matt replied simply, "I started using my cane, actually," and he could get it if needed, "the sound it makes when arcing through the air in front of my feet would tell me what was in front of me. Not everything, but at least at that level. Other noises would tell me other things. That's why the clicker. I still do that sometimes, usually for something specific. It's rarely a full picture though. I might see the branches of a tree in the wind, but not the trunk, so I have to know there's a trunk, too. Or that a mailbox sits on the curb, don't forget it's there."
"And in combat, when you don't have any tools and need to react immediately? Your echolocation is clear enough when your opponent moves?"
Matt nodded, "Heartbeats are very telling," he explained, "I don't need to use my cane, but it makes things easier, I'm used to it. Habit, if you will. It's all about how you focus."
Ev could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears but could not perceive Matt's until he pressed his hand against the other man's chest. He felt it before he actually heard it, but it stayed in his ears even when he pulled his hand away. "Your shirt's really soft," he said, chuckling. "What kind of fabric softener do you use? Ah, you're probably really sensitive to texture, aren't you?"
"I am," Matt agreed, "and tastes. Smells. Basically, everything," he did his best not to let it be a problem, but he had to admit, he was grateful that he could truly relax when he was here. It made sleeping much easier. "New York is useful in its way though, being so noisy. I almost never need extra noise to understand my surroundings."
"It's not overload? Not just the sounds but the . . . aroma." Nicer word than odor. "I guess if you grew up with it, though, it all becomes background. Okay." Ev lifted his fists and fell into a standard boxing stance. "I'll try to tag you. See if I can reorient when you dodge. Sound good?"
"It can be overload, absolutely," Matt agreed, "Took a while to get used to it, figure out what worked for me to help focus to block things out. Martial arts helped a lot," he dropped into a simple boxing stance, fists up to defend himself. "Sure," he agreed, bouncing gently on the balls of his feet as he waited for Everett to make a move.
With the echo of Matt's heartbeat still lightly thumping in his ears, Ev threw a punch in Matt's general direction. He missed, unsurprisingly, and he followed with a short flurry. He caught nothing but air.
If he did not know any better, he could have sworn that Matt had not even moved the whole time.
Matt hadn't moved. "Focus," he instructed, "Block everything out except my heartbeat. Nothing else matters." Meditation helped, but you had to be open for it to work. He wasn't sure Everett was open to it, at least not right now.
Ev grunted in response. The ambient sounds assaulted his ears, making it seem almost impossible to filter out Matt's thump thump from everything else. An auditory needle in a haystack. Ev's next several attacks met similar fates, although one nearly grazed Matt. Lucky hit or well-aimed strike? He could not tell.
"Let's go to my room," Matt suggested, it was soundproofed, so there would be less noise surrounding them. Of course, they would also no longer have the gym to work in, but they didn't seem to need a lot of space, "Let's go even smaller."
While Ev hesitated to enter an even more controlled space than he already was in — how would he be able to translate this to real life if he kept cutting out real variables? — it was apparent he had jumped into the deep end without a life jacket. He had to swallow his pride and take a step back.
"We could also try the Danger Room," he suggested. "Less likely to break anything valuable. And it can record biometrics. I love me some data."
"I'm not concerned with you breaking anything," Matt replied softly, voice a little dry. He was not exactly know for his aesthetic decor. More like minimalism meets blind dude. "But alright. Do you have access? I don't, much," he didn't use the Danger Room outside of things with Gen X, which he hadn't done in months.
Ev nodded. "I earn my keep by helping the children. And some of the adults. I don't have the privileges the X-Men have, but enough to get us in for safe training and no destruction of personal property." The glow of his aura faded, and with it went the flood of input. The loss staggered him just as its manifestation had. He removed the blindfold and rubbed his eyes to adjust to the light again.
"Then let's do it," Matt replied, willing.
