recolle | October Catch-All [Semi-Open]

Coming up quickly on two months of Retrospec. I hate it as much as you do. So. How have you been Fynn?

[ Matt smirks at Fynn from across the little patio table at the cafe where they agreed to meet and catch up during lunch. He's stirring cream into his afternoon cup of caffeine boost while he speaks. The late morning light makes the lenses of his glasses and the subtle highlights in his hair look extra red today. The sun is warm on his face, some of that early fall weather when there's still enough heat to sit outside without throwing on a jacket. ]

I warned ya, didn't I?

[The man mumbles once he finally placed the tablet down. Fynn been oddly quiet as of late, which to some is a mild blessing in disguise. However, the somberness of his mood as of late is quite unusual even for him.]

Been better. [Fynn finally answers after taking a sip of his coffee. He just tries a little bit of it for now. Usually he drinks it all in one gulp but not this time. It's a little too hot.] The time off I took was a blessing and a curse at the same time.

[He falls silent for a moment as he regards Matt, giving him a critical look.]

Did you...dye your hair?

[ Matt nods at him, smirk still in place. Yeah. His warnings had rung all too very true. He shrugs at Fynn's question. ]

No. It's probably just the light. I inherited my father's hair, it was always more colorful under the sun than artificial light. At least that's what the neighbor lady next door would tell me between pinching my cheek and offering me candy back in the day.

Or is it grey? Am I going grey early thanks to the extra stress of Retrospec?

So, I take it your father was Irish with all that red.

[Fynn quietly chuckles behind his hand.]

Don't worry, slick! There's not an ounce of gray in that mane. Feel fortunate.

[Too bad the same can't be said for Fynn but at least his gray hairs look more blond than gray. They're few and far in between but there's some blond in that ridiculously long brown hair. Fortunately, most people don't notice them and Matt's blind.

So, Fynn doesn't worry much.]

You hangin' in there? You look like you've lost some weight.

Yes actually. The Murdock name is Irish, I believe.

[ An Irish Catholic man. Go figure.

His brow folds in confusion at Fynn's suggestion and he shakes his head and shrugs again. He taps the stirring stick against the rim of his coffee cup and puts it on the edge of his plate. ]

Really? I haven't stepped on a scale recently. I have had a few extra workouts outside of the gym. I saw a post about Retrospec users meeting at the dojo to learn or in most cases re-learn fighting skills. I've been there a few times.

Could just be the stress at it again. The media wants a statement every time I walk up or down the courthouse steps now that those kidnappers are on trial.

[ Fynn would know from his own part in the investigation about the case against a couple who had snatched a little boy while he was at the playground. The child was fine in the end thankfully. ]

Is it? [Fynn actually looks a tad surprised.] Well, that certainly explains everything, no?

[A faint chuckle escapes him once he sees Matt's brows furrow in confusion. It seems his friend can't tell when he's just being an ass. It's mildly amusing but Fynn honestly shouldn't be teasing the poor guy so much. It's not fair considering Matt's disability but Fynn just wanted to poke at him a little.]

You..."saw" a post? [Fynn blinks his eyes slowly at that. The disbelief clings to his voice but maybe Matt meant he *heard* about the dojo stuff. Yeah, that seems more feasible.] I heard about the Dojo before but never joined. I suppose it's because I know my hand-to-hand combat skills are embarrassing as hell.

[He's a sharpshooter, not a martial artist.]

Ah, yea! The trial. How's that going?

Edited 2017-10-17 22:06 (UTC)

[ Matt snorts and bats a hand in the air. ] You know what I mean. I can still use expressions like "I'm happy to see you" even if it's not technically accurate.

You never know. If Other Fynn had hand-to-hand combat experience it might kick in if you give it a try. That's why Dante was kind enough to try sparring with me, apparently Other Me had some type of fighting skill and Other Dante happened to wear a blindfold in battle. [ He laughs. ] I wonder what the others at the dojo thought when they saw us.

The defense is hard at work trying to gain sympathy for the kidnappers. As expected they're trying to paint it in a light where they were desperate to have a family so they took someone else's child. But as we both know they were only after money. Proving they had a ransom note prepared and simply destroyed it when they were caught- that's the difficult part. Hopefully the lab will find something when they sweep their electronic devices.

[Fynn ends up cackling a little like some sort of fiend. He's terrible for laughing at poor Matt but he's always been sort of terrible.]

I know, I know! I'm just messin' with you. [He says with a grin that he knows Matt can't see but maybe he can hear the mirth in his tone.] I got to fulfill my daily quota.

[Now back to the topic at hand--]

I don't know, Matt. The "Other Me" seems like he was more of a flyboy than a combat expert but be damned if I can't outdo Togusa or Tatsuo at the firing range.

[Which is the god honest truth. Fynn is actually a good enough shot on his own but this "Captain Rygdea" persona is even better. Maybe it has something to do with the Wide-Area Response Brigade, also known by most as the Cavalry. It certainly seems to be the case.]

Wait, Dante's other self wears a friggin' blindfold in battle?

[Fynn arches his brow a little at that.]

Yeah, that's a little weird. Just a bit. You guys must've looked like a freakshow.

[He takes a sip of his coffee again once Matt mentions the case. It's times like this that Fynn is glad he's not a prosecutor but rather a cop.]

Sympathy for friggin' kidnappers? Yeah, okay. That's...well, absurd. Very. I'm surprise the defense would try that spiel and not immediately go for a plea deal or something.

It's lunch and you still haven't filled your quota? Does that mean what I think it does? Were you actually doing your paperwork this morning? [ Gasp. ]

Other Finn is some kind of marksman then? A soldier or a SWAT member maybe?

[ He keeps running into sword wielders and the sort at the dojo, Fynn seems to be a rare exception to the weapon expertise among the Others. ]

Dante didn't elaborate much but he said he has a memory where Other Dante jumps off the roof of a building and shoots a target while blindfolded. Sounds crazy but I have that to thank for convincing him to let me toss some punches at him so you won't hear me question it.

They have a good lawyer on their side, I'll give them that. And people do stupid things when they're desperate so it wouldn't sound entirely impossible. Some of the jury might really buy the story. Jurors always love a good story. I have to poke holes in it and tell them the other one.

[Even though Matt can't see the bashfulness of his grin, he could probably sense it. Fynn ducks his head and glances away from him.] What are you talking about? I always do my job.

[Lies, all of it. Lies.]

Pretty much. The "Other Me" was the Captain of the Cavalry. He was better with guns and piloting airships, I believe. Definitely not the type to wield a sword but definitely Sanctum Military.

[Has Fynn ever told Matt before about Cocoon? He doubts it.]

...I sure hope that current Dante won't be pulling that mess. I don't need him to accidentally become a red stain on the pavement.

[he frowns yet again once his colleague mentions that awful case.]

Well, remind the jurors that this isn't Tinsel Town and this isn't some damn movie! This is real life people are forever traumatized by this shit.

Airships? So not like regular airplanes. You're talking about technology different from ours?

[ A pilot with shooting skills. Still counts towards the long list of fighters among the Others. ]

I don't know if he has plans to leap off of rooftops anytime soon but I think he's smart enough to work up to it first. I'll have to ask him to teach me if he figures it out.

[ Matt shrugs and sighs. ]

Not the truth but it's effective. There's a reason some people harbor a hatred towards lawyers.

[ Eren might be embarrassed if he knew how proud Matt was of him, graduating after all his hard work and intense training from the air force academy. As the start of October drew near Matt asked him what he'd like as a graduation gift and Eren mentioned celebrating by eating wings. So it was planned to treat his young neighbor to a meal at the sports bar, eating the spicy messy little things until their mouths catch fire. Matt doesn't usually go to sports bars just as he typically doesn't bother with much television but he's in good company and Eren updates him whenever there's an impressive play or goal.

They've made themselves comfortable at a small round table with Eren facing the television and a large order of buffalo wings in the center, served with celery and ranch to dip. The restaurant is lively and whenever something exciting happens on the televisions there's a loud reaction from the other end of the place where the bar is. ]

Any plans for Halloween or have you outgrown that?

[ Matt wipes the sauce from his hands for the eighth time before drinking from his glass. ]

[ you can probably hear him clatter his chair and nearly throw the table in a full-mouthed roar when there’s a good goal. you have a very efficient goal detector, matt. a fan of soccer and wings, it was a little outing that eren enjoyed simplistically, as well as savoring it greatly— these were graduation wings, and if it were up to him he wouldn’t have really done anything special. since matt insisted: wings, on the same day as a champions league game.

unlike his lawful neighbor, eren doesn’t waste time in cleaning his fingers up from the mess that was saucy wild wings. why clean them up when he was just going to get them constantly dirty again, right? at least he semi-cleans them off himself each time after devouring a piece. with his mouth. leave no sauce behind. ]

Well— I’m part of the Pumpkin Patrol, now.

[ yes, it had to be called the pumpkin patrol. ]

[ Matt smiles to himself every time Eren celebrates a goal. He might not be the soccer fan Eren is but he can appreciate something that makes a friend excited enough to cheer this way. ]

And what exactly does the Pumpkin Patrol do?

[ There are a lot of different things you can do with a pumpkin after all. ]

[ don’t sound so smug!! it’s not as cute as it sounds!! as cute as pumpkin patrol does sound, eren seems pretty proud in voice alone to explain it, wolfing down another wing. ]

It’s patrol duty while the kids trick or treat. [ but with that look— ] Don’t tell me you thought it was actual pumpkin patrol.

[ he’ll be appalled ]

Hey someone has to look after all those pumpkins!

[ Matt grins at him and bursts into laughter. He takes a sip from his drink and chuckles under his breath, pushing his glasses back up. ]

Wasn't sure if it was security looking after people or security to prevent excited individuals from wandering around causing trouble. Halloween always leads to at least a few odd stories around the precinct.

Security is security.

[ it doesn’t stray away from safety, so it’s a little bit of both. but stories get his interest— he’s always loved stories, or listened to people tell them. matt doing what he does has probably seen more than he could count, like eren and his own bmt stories. giving his cup a little bit of a slam, he leans in a little. ]

You’re weirdest one until now.

[ tell him. ]

Weirdest one in my opinion... That would have to be an assault case from two years ago.

[ He leans back in his chair already smiling at the funny memory. ]

Halloween night at someone's party a couple of the guests were dressed up as Taylor Swift and Katy Perry. They started to argue over which celebrity was better and I'm sure you can guess where this is headed. The neighbors called the police complaining about the noise and when they showed up they found "Taylor" and "Katy" each with a small army of other party guests on their side yelling at each other. So they tried to break it up but it had escalated too far and "Taylor" ended up punching "Katy" in the face breaking her nose. They hauled "Taylor" away to booking and the next day when they sent one of the rookies to take "Katy's" statement she was still in costume and made the entire statement in character.

[ pff. okay, eren has to snort. not that it’s hilarious, but it’s just. ridiculous. ]

And you still had to take the case?

"Katy" wanted to press charges so yes. I passed the case off to one of the interns. Nobody went to court in the end. "Taylor" had it noted on her permanent record though. Another couple bad Halloweens and "Swift" could end up in prison. Who knows where they are now?

[ He sips from his drink, shaking his head at the memory. ]

You'll have to tell me if something amusing happens during your patrol or at least what the most unusual costume choice was. Unless you already have a story.

I only started patrolling now, so— [ he shrugs in mock apology; he doesn’t have any fresh halloween stories that didn’t date back to high school, so he’ll keep his eyes open. but, in the meantime . . . ]

There’s more than enough things that happen in basic that count for a year’s worth of stories.

[ Matt gives an amused hum. ]

I'm sure! Plenty of scary stories included no doubt. Any you'd like to reminisce upon now that you've graduated?

Probably the freshest one.

[ when it happened, eren can’t help but to sort of. huff and laugh at everything. it’s irritating and embarrassing when it’s happening, but once it’s all over— he doesn’t mind sharing to at least a select few he knew he could entrust it with. finishing his drink, he calls for one more, ordering a round of party sized honey glazed ribs. ]

Remember when the boats fell out of the sky last month? [ he points, not that matt sees it. he’s just used to gesturing a lot. ] I was the only one on base flipping out, and I did the honors of calling out the Instructor.

[ he rubs his face, shaking his head. ]

I didn’t think they wouldn’t notice that. Turns out they like betting on splashes. [ wait for it ] And for how long I could run around the beach.

Edited 2017-10-31 19:40 (UTC)

[ Matt groans and laughs. ]

Oh no. Retrsospec really owes you for that one. People shouldn't be that calm when giant objects fall out of the sky period. How do they know exactly where they're going to land? They could act at least a little nervous.

Some of these perspective tricks are concerning. People could find out any day that they painted or printed something in the wrong color because it looked grey. Or someone will wake up and realize they lost their prize race horse and beloved pet. Then there are the dangerous events like the boats falling. Ignorance is too blissful.

[ Matt was home before Mary today which left him some time alone to rearrange the furniture a little and make all the noise he wanted to without getting embarrassed. After he realized the Other Matt might be able to see his surroundings by using echo location he had been searching online bit by bit for information on how others in the blind community had mastered it. There were countless articles written about how revolutionary the adaptation was but very little to find giving advice to those hoping to learn it themselves. Thankfully someone had posted tips on a forum for the sight impaired. It wasn't much but it would have to do until he found something better.

He starts facing a cleared wall in the lounging area and testing how the sound of his tongue clicking changes depending on how far away he is. He loses track of time, testing the sound in different rooms, standing in different positions and locations, with the door open, with the door closed, windows opened or closed. Despite his efforts to listen closely he completely misses the sound of Mary walking in the front door while he's in his office clicking with his face just inches from the wall. ]

[Mary's running a bit late, having spent a little bit of time tutoring a friend. It's not quite full dark yet, well before the fog, which Mary is doing her best to avoid. Keying herself inside, she lips inside as quietly as possible. She's brought dinner home again too, just a grocery store rotisserie chicken and some pre-cooked rice but that's more than enough for her and him she figures.

She hears him rattling around in another room and heads that way. And stops dead when she enters the room and finds him...face to face with a wall. Clicking like some sort of long lost tribesman from New Guinea.]

Uncle Matt?

[ Matt jolts in surprise when she speaks. Oh! He turns around, grinning at her and clearing his throat, straightening his glasses out of nervous habit. ]

Welcome home! Sorry, I didn't hear you. I was -uh- in deep concentration trying to hear the quality of the sound coming off the wall.

[She frowns, even if he can't see it, crossing her arms and rustling the bag.]

Uncle. You're doing what now? I didn't know you were a bat...

[Please don't lie, okay?]

[ The accuracy of her comment has him smiling, both impressed and amused. ]

If- If I were a bat I would let you know. [ He chuckles. ] No fur or wings are involved. Promise.

You have the right idea though. I thought I'd try to learn how to use echolocation. Other sight impaired people have made use of it and I suspect the man in the memories uses it too to some degree.

Wait. Your other self. The double...could use echolocation?

[She walks over and flumps down on the couch.]

Like a bat. Is this one of your memory things too? How can you be certain?

The memory came to me. I don't know why or how but his working senses were enhanced so much that he could use echolocation and other techniques to sense his surroundings and "see." It's not the same as seeing with your eyes but it meant he didn't always have to use a cane to get around. And if we run into trouble again like those monsters I want to be better prepared.

A sonic picture. Sonar, Radar. I understand what you mean.

[She gets you, Uncle.]

I'm glad you're finding something out that'll make your life easier. Maybe you'll even remember the powers like I did.

[ He tilts his head back, considering her words. ]

That's actually a great way to describe it. It goes out in all directions. Obstacles like walls can effect it but he can often still "see" beyond them anyway. Each time a memory comes back I feel like my head is flooded with information. I didn't understand it then but it's because he sees so much on that "radar" almost all the time.

I don't know if I'll gain that power. But it doesn't hurt to try something similar that worked for other people.

[ He goes quiet but the way his lips are pressed firmly together and his eyes are pointed down there's clearly something on his mind. ]

Actually, there's something else I should tell you about.

[ He walks over to the couch and sits at the other end. He takes a moment then turns to her. ]

I've been concerned about what type of person the Other Me might be so I didn't want to tell you all the details of the memories I had. The truth is he's a dangerous person. In the first memory I experienced he was beating a man unconscious. I don't know why he attacked this person but it was violent and disturbing.

Then the evening you discovered your new power I had another memory. This time he was struggling with an elderly man who was grabbing him from behind. The Other Me somehow performed a flip down a flight of stairs and landed face up. He... He crushed the other man on the stairs in order to get him to let go. Thankfully from what I can tell the other man didn't hit his head or suffer major injuries. But if he hurt an innocent person I...

[ He grabs his forehead with one hand and regathers his thoughts. His hand drops to his side again. ]

I still don't know what any of it means. I... I apologize for not telling you sooner.

[ They said they'd rely on each other and keep each other updated and he had kept a secret from the very beginning. In hindsight had it actually helped? His first excuse in the back of his mind is that he did it to protect her but it's becoming obvious how convoluted that claim really is. ]

[Mary...listens quietly, taking a seat as Matt talks, settling in and folding her hands in her lap. She can and will take that much in stride, especially when she notes how distressing it is for him.

She's a little taken aback at the moment, her breath catching slightly, eyes widening but gradually sinking back into place as she considers. Her heartbeat does speed up slightly, but not with nerves. Just surprise.

When she speaks up, it's soft...]

You know you aren't that person. It doesn't really matter what kind of man he was, because you have your life. I know that sounds like a platitude but it's true. You are your own man.

[ Her answer has him smiling softly in a mix of relief and gratitude. It's not just when she comes home to the apartment glowing with enthusiasm and good news that he thanks God to have found the family he hadn't known he had. Moments when despite his self doubts she still smiles at him or simply believes the best make his heart ache. ]

Yes. I know I'm a different person.

[ But. There is a reason he keeps taking on the weight of the memories. ]

I've been afraid of the possibility that I have more in common with him than I would like to admit. I wouldn't attack an innocent person in an alleyway... But I've been in more fist fights than a blind man should if he's smart. Back when I was fresh out of law school I made some bad decisions and walked into a lot of dangerous situations of my own free will.

And?

[Mary accepts that not everyone is perfect. God wouldn't have put people on earth without flaws, after all. And honestly this is a small thing.]

You're here and you learned from it, clearly. Sure, you made some mistakes, but here you are with a respectable job, and you've moved on and become a productive member of society. You've also clearly recognized that what you did was stupid.

[ His vague explanation left out the fact he ended up in the ER a couple times and that he had been purposely getting into scuffles with criminals alongside his then girlfriend when it happened. It was complicated and so were his feelings surrounding the entire ordeal. He had yet to be entirely honest with himself about a few details. ]

The memory comes back to gnaw at me. Even more often now because of Retrospec. Maybe after this is sorted out I'll finally be done dwelling on it. We'll see. -Or you'll see at least.

[ Uncle Matt has some trouble letting go of regrets among other things apparently. For the moment he's smiling again. ]

Thank you Mary. How did I end up so lucky, with such a thoughtful niece?

[Mary's head shakes and she leans forward a little. Silently, she gets to her feet and crosses the room to give him a big hug. He seems like he needs it, honestly.]

God willed it, Uncle. That's all. Good luck, and the Lord's blessing.

[ Mary gets a small laugh out of him when she hugs him and he hugs her back. Here he is getting reassured by the niece he's supposed to be looking out for. Regardless of what kind of violent memory he gets next he has to push forward, try not to let it bother him like it has so far. Deal with his unsettled problems with Mariko and himself. Mary is counting on him. ]

[He'll need to get over that one way or another. She's counting on him, but she's also mature enough to help him out. He's a good person, despite what his other self may or may not have done. And that's all that matters to her.]

Now. Are you ready to eat?

Yeah. I think I've tried my hand at echolocation enough for one day.

[ Is it that late already? Better start concentrating on food. Mary must be starving by now with that appetite of hers. ]

October Catch-All [Semi-Open]

FYNN

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MARY

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