Who: April 14th and Matty Mackey What: December 29, 2017, afternoon When: Matty’s place Where: Out and about
Matty liked staying home because he could stretch his wings. He also hated staying home because there was only so much to do there and then he got bored. So he wasn’t at home. He was walking around, trying to find something to do. He wondered what people (re: government people) would do if he just flew around the island. He should try it just for kicks. It’s really surprising that he hadn’t yet.
He was on his way home when he saw someone he recognized. His face lit up. O.M.G. He hadn’t seen her in so long. He couldn’t help but run up to her, tap her shoulder to get her attention and open his arms for a hug. He would have glomped her but he thought, maybe this time, he would give warning.
“Hey! You’re here! Are you here?” Matty stepped back, realising he may should have looked a bit closer now that he was here. Wait. Was it her? He tilted his head and then said, “Wait. Hi. I just hugged a stranger, didn’t I?”
---
April was just minding her business, walking back to her place after wandering around the market for a little while. It was kind of cold out, so she was looking forward to getting back to a warm place, even if it was boring and lonely there. When someone tapped her on the shoulder, she turned around with her usual friendly smile. However, her expression was puzzled, and sort of blank like it typically was.
When the stranger hugged her, April gladly returned it with a smile, “Hi! I am here. And… yes? If I am a stranger, then yes, you just hugged a stranger. But hugs are nice so I don’t mind.”
--
“Sorry!” Matty said, hoping up his hands, “You totally looked like someone I knew and I was so excited to see her and then I hugged without thinking and I should have thought because you don’t look exactly like her, even though that would have been awesome if you were her, but that’s okay because I’m sure you are awesome just how you are. I’m Matthew. Matt. Matty. Now we aren’t strangers. Completely.” Only a little? He was talking an awful lot and not letting the other catch her breath.
---
April just smiled and giggled a bit as the guy rambled a little. She tended to ramble too, so it didn’t bother her at all. When he was done, April just shrugged. “At least I looked like someone you liked! It’s better to get hugs than something else. I’m April, it’s nice to meet you Matty. We can be friends, if you want.” For April, it was as simple as that and no one could tell her differently.
--
April may not have been the one that Matty thought he liked her immediately. He grinned and said, “Friends!” And for him? It was that easy. Unless something else happened, he had no reason to think she was anything less than a wonderful friend.
“I hope I didn’t interrupt you too much before I bomb-hugged you,” Matty said, “Are you busy? Can I get to know my new friend more? Tell me about yourself!” Vague question but the answer was always fun. People either gave some really random facts or just stared blankly at him.
---
April shook her head no with the same bright smile. “You didn’t interrupt me. I was just going home because it’s cold. I am not busy, I like to get to know people.” At the question, April paused with a little frown, unsure of what to say. “I don’t know a lot about myself. Tell me about you.”
--
“Let’s go somewhere warm,” Matty said with a nod, “We can go to my place? I have warm drinks.” Should he promise he wasn’t creepy? Saying that made him creepy already. He really shouldn’t say anything then, “Me? I’ve been here for three years. Does that count? I think we are totally more than who we are on the island but I think we are also sort of defined in some way. Now I’m getting all introspective. Why don’t you know much about you?”
---
“Okay!” April probably should be more cautious about going off with relative strangers, but Matty seemed nice so she agreed without hesitation. “That’s a long time! I think that counts, but I don’t really know what would not count. I also don’t know what that word means… introspective?” April tried to figure out what the word could mean, sometimes that helped, but there weren’t a whole lot of clues to go on. At least none she’d connected. “I don’t have any memory. Well, from before this year or so, anyway.”
--
“I don’t really know what wouldn’t count either,” Matty said with a half shrug as he began to lead her home. He glanced at her, “It means I’m getting all lost in my head and overthinking things. Usually about myself. Not that I have a big ego but thinking of where I come from and if that defines me. Which it really shouldn’t but it sort of does,” he glanced to her again and he rolled his shoulders back. Argh. He was getting that feeling in his back again, “But you don’t know you and you are well defined. So I guess we are who we say we are. So do you remember only being here? Or before that?”
---
A lot of this was going right over April’s head. But Matty was being nice and talking to her, so she just listened with a smile and nodded when it seemed like the right time to do so. When he finally said something she clearly understood, April perked up. “I woke up in this place, it was kind of scary. And then they sent me here. So that is basically it. It’s weird not knowing things about myself, but maybe it’s easier? It seems like a lot of stuff for people to have to go around remembering all the time.” Talk about looking on the bright side.
--
Matty opened the door to his place and gestured for April to go in first. He rolled his shoulders back again. Was it because it was cold? Argh. He wasn’t going to think about that.
“Do you want something warm to drink? Or cold? I think I have a hot chocolate mix around here somewhere,” Matty said, kicking off his boots. If only they were covered in snow… heh! He could make a literal snow angel!
“Yeah, I can see how it can be heavy to carry a past with you,” Matty said, “But now you can be whomever you want to be! April! International Spy! Yes? Maybe?”
---
April happily followed along and moved into Matty’s place. She looked around curiously, it was always fun to see what other people’s homes looked like. Her own felt so empty and lonely and boring. Turning to face him, she smiled and nodded. “I like hot chocolate, but I’m not picky.”
April wasn’t sure she wanted to be an international spy, that sounded a little scary. And confusing. But the idea of being whoever she wanted to be sounded really nice. “I just want to be me.”
--
Matty tended to keep breakables up high. When he was winged, he sometimes broke things so they were up high. He reached up on his toes and retrieved two mugs and set them on the counter, grabbing the kettle to set to boil.
“Do you like a little milk in your hot chocolate?” Matty asked. He leaned against the counter and nodded, “Isn’t that what we all want to be? So, April, you haven’t been here long? Do you like it?” Okay. That was a terrible question. No one liked it here but it was … enough, right? Better than alternatives. Maybe.
---
Following Matty into the kitchen, April watched him curiously as he moved about, doing things. She nodded with a little smile to his question about the hot chocolate. “Yes, please.” His next question, however, was not quite so easy to answer. “No, I came here at the end of the summer, August, I think. It’s okay here, I guess. Some people are mean, but there are nice people too. More nice people here than the place I was before. And I don’t have to stay in one place and wear weird things. And it’s only sometimes cold here.”
--
Matty found the milk and poured it into the cups then went to find the pouches of hot chocolate. He glanced to April. He didn’t want to think people were mean to her. Well, of course they were. They were on this island and there were mean people. Did she mean governmentals? Or others? Others were not okay. He’d punch them. If he was fighting. Which he wasn’t.
“Wear weird things?” Matty asked, “What would you wear?”
---
April looked around again as Matty worked, not wanting to be all hovering and things. Besides, she liked his house, it felt nice. Just like Matty felt nice. And he was making hot chocolate, which was super nice because it’s chocolate, but hot. “Like this dress thing, but it was open in the back and just had this little tie thing at the neck. It wasn’t very pretty. The first one I woke up in had gross stuff all over it, but then at least I had a clean one for a while. I got real clothes when they sent me here.”
--
“A hospital gown?” Matty asked. He made a face, “Aww, man. I hate wearing those. Especially when they don’t even close up in the back… or around my neck. I swear everyone saw my ass all the time.” Was she in the hospital? Or was she in Nevada? His stomach twisted. He liked to pretend the experiment was over but what if it wasn’t? What if people were still there? He didn’t like that thought at all.
Oh! Boiling kettle! Ignoring reality ignite! He poured the water in the cups and began to mix everything together. Once that was done, he presented the cup with a “ta-da!”
---
April shrugged a little. “I guess that’s what it was. It didn’t seem like a hospital place though. But I don’t remember what hospitals are like, and I don’t think I want to find out. They seems like scary places.” Wrinkling her nose, April shook her head to shake those thoughts away. “I was all alone most the time, so I don’t think anyone saw me except for the people who worked there, so I guess that’s okay.”
Taking the cup carefully, April sniffed it with a smile, being careful not to burn herself or spill. “Thanks, it smells wonderful.”
--
“Hospitals aren’t terrible places,” Matty said, “I broke my leg once as a kid. I had to go the hospital. I remember the doctor and the nurses were really nice. One nurse even drew a picture on my cast,” he paused, “I suppose not all hospitals are the same.” Could he call the experiment a hospital? He didn’t think so. “Did you already have your abilities when you woke up?”
Matty grinned and blew on his drink, “Thanks. It’s nothing fancy but there is little better than this on a cold day.”
---
April listened as she carefully sipped from her mug. She was careful, but still ended up burning the tip of her tongue just slightly because she was a little overzealous about hot chocolate. “I think so, I mean yes? I don’t remember not having abilities, so that’s a yes I think? Thank you for the drink, it’s delicious.”
--
“What are your abilities?” Matty asked. He always liked to know what he was dealing with. Not that he could really compete against much. Not that he wanted to compete against much. Though he did like to know when telepaths were around. He liked to think LA LA LA LA LA loudly, just so they couldn’t hear his other thoughts, which worked until he forgot to LA LA LA and got distracted and then WHAM thoughts were obvious.
Matty took a tentative drink of his hot chocolate. Could use more milk, “The trick is the milk. I swear.” He winked at her.
---
April took another sip of the yummy drink before answering. “I can change how I look, and my age.” That seemed pretty simple to her, and not very impressive compared to what she was finding out about other people. But all April could do was shrug, it wasn’t like she had much of a chance to change anything. “What about you? What can you do?”
--
“Oooh, that’s really cool!” Matty said, “So is this how you normally look? Or do you change yourself daily?” Well, he supposed he could illusion himself a different look but that took a lot of energy and no, yeah, he couldn’t do that.
He grinned and bounced slightly, “Wanna see? I promise it’s not dangerous. No one will be hurt in the making of this demonstration.”
---
April shrugged a little. “I think so? This is how I look most of the time, so I guess it’s what I normally look like. I can change it, but I probably shouldn’t. Last time I did… “ April wrinkled her nose. She wasn’t trying to trick anyone, so she was doing her best not to change her appearance too much. But it was fun to play a little sometimes.
When Matty offered to do a demonstration, April nodded eagerly with a smile. “Yes please!”
--
“What happened the last time you did?” Matty asked. Clearly something happened. Though he doubted she did anything malicious. She didn’t seem the type. Unless she wasn’t this nice all the time but Matty didn’t think that was the care. She seemed pretty straightforward. He was making all sorts of judgment calls here.
Matty put his mug down and took off his shirt. He was pretty sure she was going to think he was weird for doing that but he wasn’t going to hurt himself or his shirt doing this. He rolled his shoulders once and closed his eyes, letting his wings appeared. It always hurt a bit, as they came forth. He let them spread out, trying to be mindful of not hitting things before folding them slightly closer to his body.
“Ta-da!”
---
April frowned and looked down, her eyes focused on her hot chocolate. “Someone thought it wasn’t nice to change how I look, like I was trying to play a trick on them or something like that. But I just wanted to look pretty at the party, that’s all.”
April quickly refocused her attention on Matty, a little confused at first before she smiled in amazement. “You have wings! Like a bird, oh, or an angel! They’re so pretty! Do they hurt? Can I touch?”
--
“Were you? Trying to play a trick?” Matty asked then gave a shrug, “Because if you weren’t? Who cares what they think? There are people here lost in their own heads that they don’t see that you are doing what you wanted to be happy. And if we are trapped on an island? We need to find something to give us joy.”
Matty laughed when she smiled, “An angel, I like to say,” he nodded, “You can touch. I actually like having my wings pet. As for hurting? Only if I keep them hidden too long, which I don’t like to do. I like them out like this.”
---
April’s eyes widened and she shook her head no. “Playing tricks on people is mean, I wouldn’t do that!” She did listen to what else he had to say and it sounded good. She wanted to believe that, but she still felt badly about it all.
April put her hot chocolate down and made sure that her hands were clean before carefully moving over to softly pet Matty’s wings. She looked to him to make sure it was okay, biting her lower lip lightly as she smiled in delight.
--
“I never thought you would,” Matty said, “So forget whoever got mad. You were doing you, trick free.” He knew there were some people on the island had a huge chip on their shoulder. He supposed he could understand, he just didn’t see the point to keep carrying it when there was nothing that could be done.
Matty closed his eyes as she pet his wings. He did really like that. His wings twitched slightly, “I swear if I was a cat, I’d be purring.” He had thought that more than once around Thursday. He liked it a lot.
---
April smiled a little, feeling somewhat reassured by Matty’s words. She would try to keep that in mind. But at the same time, April was now much more cautious about using her abilities in front of people.
April pet Matty’s wings a couple more times before stepping back with a smile. “They’re so soft and pretty. Why do you hide them?”
--
Matty tried not to pout when she stepped back. It was probably good that she stopped petting. Petting sometimes had the effect of… well, turning him on and that was probably not the best response right now.
“They are kind of big and I tend to break things if I’m not careful,” Matty admitted then shrugged, “Plus, I don’t know. It’s hard to wear a shirt with them and I don’t like the government people looking at them. It’s like they trigger happy when they see something different.”
---
April listened and nodded a little. “I wouldn’t want you to break things or hurt yourself. And it’s too cold outside for no shirts. What does trigger happy mean?” April wasn’t sure, but it didn’t sound like a good thing.
--
Matt kept his wings out. Now that they were out, it felt better. He reached for his drink and took a sip. He smiled sheepishly.
“When I first got here, I wanted to fly. So I tried? And the guards may have shot me down a few times. Which unplanned landings hurt,” Matty said, “So I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea and try to tranq me again. Even if I wasn’t trying to escape before.” He wasn’t going to try now, unless he could bring Thursday with him. He should try to see if he could sneak out before trying to sneak Thursday out with him.
---
April frowned slowly. That sounded mean and scary. “You’re okay now, though, right? Getting shot down sounds dangerous! Why would they do that?” April was still coming to understand how things worked on the island, but other than realizing that people were mean, she didn’t really get why. Then again, she hadn’t exactly gone around asking, either.
--
“Oh, it’s been a while since I’ve tried to fly high enough that they would shoot me down,” Matty said quickly. He hadn’t meant to upset her. He wondered if he should mention to her about the not leaving the island thing but he assumed she had to have known. She would have to know this was a one way ticket.
“They probably thought I was trying to escape,” Matty said, “Or something stupid like that. It’s probably my fault for keep doing it? I just wanted to fly…” he still did and sometimes he went out to the woods for cover. He could never get as high as he wanted.
---
April was aware of being unable to leave, but it didn’t bother her as much as it did the others. She understood how they felt in theory, but for April, she had nowhere to go, and knew no one, so in that respect, the island seemed like a much safer place than the big, scary world.
April listened and frowned a little. “I don’t understand why you’re not allowed to fly, if it’s just around a little bit. Why is that such a bad thing?” April didn’t often get harassed about her powers, at least not by the guards. Most of them just thought she was stupid and annoying.
--
Matty took another sip of his hot chocolate as he folded his wings closer to him. He was silent for a moment and said, “I’m not sure. I suspect because using my wings acknowledges that I have them and that maybe it’s unnatural and therefore I shouldn’t use them.” Or maybe they didn’t want him to keep building up strength in his wings so he could fly away one day, “But if that was the case, they wouldn’t have the facility. I don’t know.” He wondered if that meant that April wasn’t harassed by the guards much. He hoped so.
---
April shrugged a little, going back to her drink as well. “But, if like a lot of people here have special abilities, why do we have to hide them here? And then, people are supposed to get help at that place, right? I don’t know. I don’t really get it, but there are lots of things I don’t really understand.” Shrugging, April offered a little, hopeful smile.
--
“I don’t think I really understand this place either,” Matty confessed, “and I’ve been here a whole lot longer. I think,” he paused and shook his head, “I don’t know what I think except all we can do is live our lives the best we can. Maybe one day we’ll get to leave. Maybe not. But we just need to do whatever is it is to be happy.” Or else they would all go crazy here.
---
April nodded slightly. It was nice to feel like things would be okay, things were confusing and unsure a lot. “When you get to leave, where will you go? What will you do?” April couldn’t answer those questions for herself, so she hoped that Matty wouldn’t ask. But if he did, she would just be honest, no harm in that.
--
Matty frowned softly and thought for a moment. Where would he go? Would he go home? He missed his mom and his siblings but he was also really embarrassed that he had landed himself in jail. Plus he had wings now. He had no idea what they would even say. He didn’t think they knew. He hadn’t been able to communicate with them since he was sent to Nevada. For all he knew, they thought he was dead.
“I have no idea,” Matty confessed, “I have family but I don’t know if they know about,” he twitched the wings, glancing at them, “and I don’t know what they would say. I want to pretend that I’d go see them but I don’t know.” He took another drink. Sad. He was running out, “What about you?”
---
April wasn’t sure if she’d brought up something difficult, so she frowned a little. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to talk about sad things. But if you have a family, and you had the chance to see them, I think you should at least try to see them. I don’t know where I would go or what I would do. I don’t think I have anyone or anywhere to go. I don’t remember anything, and… well, if I had someone, wouldn’t they have tried to find me?”
--
Matty smiled to April and said, “It’s okay. I’m not upset about talking about sad things. I miss them but,” he shrugged, “I don’t know what communication is like between here and the outside world.” He paused, “Maybe there are people looking for you. Or maybe you can look for them. I have no idea how but maybe we can try to get some information and start cracking the nut.” Or something. He was willing to get into some trouble if it get April some information.
---
April blinked, surprised. “You would really do that? You would help?” It would be really nice of Matty to help her like that, and April wasn’t sure she would be able to do it on her own. “You don’t have to go out of your way or to any trouble. But, maybe a little help would be good. I don’t know what I can do on my own, I don’t know a lot of things, but I can learn!”
--
“Of course!” Matty said with a smile, “We’ll do this together and we’ll totally figure out everything about you.” Matty didn’t think this would be an easy task but he was okay with that. Everyone deserved to know their roots. He just hoped she had a happy beginning and ending.
“So whatever you remember or know, let me know and we’ll figure out things from there,” Matty said, “We don’t need to do that right now, if you don’t want. We can do it later. Or now. Or whenever you want.”
---
April smiled and then set her mug aside to give Matty a big hug. “Thank you, this means so much to me!” Taking a step back, she laughed at herself for being so emotional all of the sudden. She felt like she wanted to cry, but she still looked like her usual, smiling, spacey self. “Maybe later? I’m all confused now. Maybe I should write down all the things I know and then bring you the list. It won’t be a long list, but at least it could be a little organized.” April wasn’t good at organizing, so the list idea surprised her, but she had thought of it.
---
Matty hugged her back and grinned, “Later it is! In the meantime, want a refill and we can go chill? Do you have Netflix? You seem to be someone who needs to have Netflix in their lives.” Matty wasted entirely too much time watching TV some days. He liked to share his love of wasting time with others. And what was wrong with a little Netflix?
---
“What’s Netflix?” It sounded familiar, April was sure someone had mentioned it to her before, but she hadn’t looked into it. Or at least not that she recalled. “But yes, we can do those things, it sounds fun.” If nothing else, April went along with the flow.
--
Matty set the kettle to boil again and grinned, “Netflix is a slice of heaven. It contains all the TV shows and movies on the planet. Well, no, not really but it has a lot of TVs shows and movies and it is the ultimate time waster. You’ll love it.” Matty was sure of it. After all, who didn’t love wasting time with fun things?