logsinthenight | THERE WERE THOSE WHO DWELLED IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH,

characters: matt and hopefully other people
location: all over
date/time: septemberish???
content: matt is doing stuff??
warnings: i forgot how bad i am at making open posts. other than that not so far

THE INVINCIBLE.

( if there's one thing Matt has really come to miss, it is access to easy takeout. he's not a cook and never has been, even though he can manage it if he tries to. he just doesn't care to try and has always preferred to pick the easy way out. so he hits up the Invincible once a day, give or take, to scrounge up something to eat. mostly for breakfast, paired with bad coffee, but he'll mix it up and take his dinner or lunch there on occasion.

he's quiet, keeps to himself, usually eats and heads back out again. occasionally he'll stop and make small talk. he might even ask someone to read the bulletin for him, because he really hates having his tablet monotone it at him.

on other occasions, though, he'll make good on what the sign behind the bar commands and will do the only job he feels suitable to complete. if you sit at the bar, he will make you something, and god bless you for being brave enough to give that a shot. Matt seems oddly amused to pour drinks, so are you going to tell him he can't? )

What are you having? ( he'll ask, and no matter the order, he'll probably just give you a shot of whatever bottle he has. good enough, right? better than when he somehow distinctly avoids giving people what they ask for, it's almost like he's messing with you... but go ahead, order something. maybe the blind guy can help you out. )

HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS.
locked to 1 response, please!

( shortly after the arrival of new recruits, Matt is having his breakfast as he usually does, only there's something a bit different. his tablet is with him and let me tell you, that's a rarity. he pretty much only touches the damn thing when he's got nothing better to do, and when he's completely alone.

sadly, he's tried and failed to figure this out on his own, and he's forced to concede defeat. whatever is on the thumbdrive left for him, he can't figure it out without help. Matt even gives it a last ditch effort, blindly tapping and even making a mutter of frustration.

before he throws the tablet and the thumbdrive both for annoying him, he forces himself to do what he hates the most. whoever makes the mistake of walking past him will just have to suffer the consequences. )

Sorry, can you help me? Do you know anything about how to use this? ( Matt taps on the thumbdrive, to make his question obvious. ) I can't figure out what is on it, I can't get the accessibility features to work.

THE GYM.

( Matt has done his fair bit of exploring, yet he hadn't known about the gym until it was mentioned at the meeting. and of course, despite the small crowd of people mentioning their desire to know how to protect themselves, he'd said nothing about it and just creeped off in the dark to check it out on his own.

he's intentionally avoided visiting when people are present, though Matt knows there's plenty of opportunity to be walked in on. he's not doing anything remarkable, just wandering the place with his walking stick and feeling the place out. literally, he's touching everything, and occasionally making a face about how dirty it is.

the only thing mildly remarkable is the drill he runs on the punching bag. though his form is somewhat lazy and one handed at that, the easy way he does it screams it's not his first set and probably not his last. but what's wrong with that, right? even blind guys should be allowed to exercise! )

THE WOODS.

( Matt likes a routine, and another he's grown into since arrival — especially recently — is wandering the treeline. the insects make the place seem a little less vacant, and while it's not the pleasant noise of his city, it is practically enjoyable.

he also figures if anything is approaching, it'll probably come from the woods, and the proximity means he might just hear it.

that said, if someone wanders a little too close, Matt will lift a hand in warning. )

Careful, ( he suggests gently. ) Not too noisy. ( the reason might not be readily apparent, but, look around a bit and you can spot the spirit that is probably blending in incredibly well with the foliage. Matt has no idea how to be a plant spirit parent, though he figures communing in nature is a part of the deal. so yes, he brings the baby out here frequently. )

WILDCARD.

not feeling any of these? feel free to wildcard me or hit me up via pm or

meowed to chat about something else!

also, if you haven't, please fill out matt's permissions!!!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She's unsure around some of the spirits, mostly because of their size, but this one is small. She feels a slight kinship with it. She's small too.]

I'm Jo. Do you know if your company has a name?

( it is pretty difficult to feel wary of the mandrake, that's a fact... though, startle or upset it and it gets a lot more intimidating. Matt for one is not looking to be half deafened for a second time, hence the warning before Jo got particularly close.

a name? well, that's a good question. ) It hasn't been able to share one with me, so far it hasn't spoken. I've taken to calling it Ivy. ( looking at its feet and hands, the vines winding around its fingers, wrist, and ankles to resemble ivy.

saying the word out loud makes the spirit tremble, before darting to hide behind Matt's pantleg instead of a tree. he pauses and glances down, before laughing. ) I wasn't calling you, you can still play. ( the spirit is silent and staring at their company, so Matt gives up. the mandrake will move when it feels comfortable. ) I found it crying in the woods, I think it was lonely. I've been keeping it company when I can.

[Interesting. Jo watches the spirit as it peeks at her for a moment, giving it a slight nod before turning her attention back to Matt's face.]

There weren't other spirits around? [While she's seen many spirits alone, it didn't seem like they were lonely. She's not sure if they have families, though. She should look into that.]

Does that mean you've been lonely?

No. When I mentioned it to Winters, he did say it had a friend at some point. ( Matt has been looking the best he can, and hasn't found any hint of another spirit like this one. it's sad to think the poor creature had some sort of kinship that vanished. one of many reasons he relates a little too keenly to the little mandrake, though he'd never admit it.

has he been lonely? a curious question. Matt is lonely by default, and mostly of his own creation. he keeps people at a distance quite intentionally. he has felt a bit more lonely than usual in Beacon, though that's because the people he cared about most he'd left behind. he hasn't made friends here like he had at home, and that did leave him feeling a little more alone than usual.

still, it's not something he's going to admit. he hardly can admit it to himself, he likely doesn't have it in him to admit it to a stranger. )

No more than anyone else, I'm sure. It is easy to feel alone in a place like this, isn't it?

[Jo doesn't know if she was expecting an answer or not. She wouldn't admit to feeling lonely. The feeling has only grown since she stopped sleeping at The Invincible. Her new bed in the Village, while it's actually a bed, just reminds her how alone she is.

She nods after a moment.]

It can be. The darkness makes it worse, I think. [Probably not the best thing to say to a blind man, but she doesn't know.]

( the darkness makes it worse. that makes him smile, and there's something slightly wistful about it. she's not wrong, the darkness is incredibly lonesome. nothing but you in the black absence, it gets to you, down to your bones. he knows how terribly isolating it is, he might in fact know best of anyone. )

It does. I don't think there's any getting used to it. ( the mandrake spirit has started to paw at his pantleg, like a toddler that wants to be carried. Matt obligingly picks the spirit up, clearly a practiced maneuver. they communication is easy because he's had time to learn it. the spirit curls against him, though not quite as tightly hidden as before. which Matt does notice — seems as if the spirit is getting used to Jo's presence. )

See? Strangers aren't so scary. ( he'd like the little one to get more used to strangers, to limit the amount of blown-out eardrums from potential screams. )

[When she does finally realize or find out he's blind, she'll feel horrible about that sentence. For now, she just assumes he's agreeing because of his time here.

She smiles softly as Matt scoops up the spirit. She's still slightly confused about how she feels about the spirits. She knows they can be deadly. It's hard to communicate with them.

But this one is small. And kind of cute.]

I am the exact opposite of scary. [At least, most of the time. Even when she's trying she's still not that scary. That comes with being small and blonde.]

( hey, he won't hold it against her. it's not as if she's wrong. the dark is terrible, he knows that just as well as anyone. maybe more.

the mandrake spirit is adorable. it's small and seems far more scared of humans than humans could really be scared of it. Matt has yet to encounter any more spirts as young as this one, which honestly he's glad for. he doesn't enjoy lonely crying child spirits any more than he likes lonely crying children.

Matt smiles at the promise she's not scary. ) You know, this is probably the closest this spirit has been to a stranger without screaming. It must like you.

[Jo smiles at the thought. They're probably pretty scary for such a small spirit. She wonders what this little one is capable of. She knows the spirits are somewhat unpredictable, just like humans.]

I'll go if it's gonna get nervous.

( if she asked, Matt could tell her, as he's been on the receiving end. this little nugget can scream so loud you'll be half-deaf and suffering a bout of vertigo, depending on how close you are to it when it happens. since he's blind, being deafened was super not fun, though Matt has to assume it wouldn't be fun for anyone. )

I assure you, you'll know if it is. No tears, so you're probably safe.

That's almost reassuring. [She says it drolly, though she does laugh after a moment.]

How did you end up taking care of this little one?

I heard it crying out in the woods, close to when I first got here. It took a bit to convince it I wasn't a threat, but when I did... it didn't want to let go after that.

( he ended up holding the poor thing for a long time until it was confident enough to settle in a flowerpot outside his house. )

It's been with me ever since. We come out to the woods sometimes — it likes it out here, I think.

[The thought of such a small thing alone makes her a little sad. Hopefully, some other spirit was taking care of it. And that spirit isn't missing this one.]

Everyone has somewhere they feel most comfortable. [It's why she set up camp in the Invincible when she first arrived. It was familiar enough.]

It's nice of you to take care of it.

( Jo's worries are exactly his own. Matt hopes there's not a spirit mother missing the little one out there somewhere. he's been looking, off and on, but so far no success in finding anything. )

Probably feels more like home. ( the spirit still likes the grass, the trees, the dirt — even sleeping in a flowerpot, it still likes a little dirt between its toes. so Matt does make sure he brings it out to the woods whenever he can. ) To be honest I'm not sure I'm the most qualified for the task, but until it finds someone else it can trust I guess it's stuck with me.

( he obviously cares about the little thing, though... even if he's not certain he's particularly parental. )

THERE WERE THOSE WHO DWELLED IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH,

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