sixthiterationlogs | Closed: Going Walkabout

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Closed: Going Walkabout

WHO: Foggy Nelson
WHERE: Starting at Matt's house and moving about the South Village
WHEN: Now ish.
OPEN TO: Closed to Matt
WARNINGS: None as yet.

It has taken a few days for Foggy to get everything together and a few more to get the work done and smoothed out to the point that his hands can't pick up anything like splinters or ridges.

It's not perfect. It will have to do.

He carries his newly made gift carefully as he goes over the Matt's place and knocks on the door. He saw Elektra wandering off somewhere—presumably because she knew that Matt was planning on spending the day with Foggy—which gives him a bit more confidence that he's not going to have another awkward conversation.

"Matty! It's me!"

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From the outside there's the sound of footsteps, something wooden or metal crashing, a pause, more footsteps, and then the door clicks a bit before Matt gets it open.

"Hey Foggy." He's barefeet, wearing a plain long sleeve shirt and trackpants that he got from the last big party, a little breathless with his hair barely tamed.

"Come in."

Foggy winces at the noise, looks to the Heaven for help that he knows he won't get and then back to the door as it opens.

"Hey, Matt." He slips inside, hurrying to get the door shut and the heat in. "Right, stay there, I have something for you and I'm going to find what that crash was and get it out of your way before it causes a domino effect of tripping."

It's fine. Matt made it to the door in one piece. There's no mess behind him or anything. Everything's fine. Don't mind him doing the shifty eye thing and scratching his temple after he shuts the door.

"You- for me? You didn't have to," he says, lingering by the door. There aren't any lights on because, well. It isn't necessary. One person living here is some stealthy killer ninja and the other is blind.

"Hey, it's- nothing. Don't worry about it."

Foggy sighs.

"You've got worse. This is me, Matt. Going to take your hand." He takes said hand and pressed the smooth handle into it. "And trust me, yeah, I did have to. I know you have a proper, one been arranged and all, but this is hopefully good enough for in the mean time, until then. It's the right length, I think I sanded it smooth enough."

Matt's eyebrows do a little dance as his curls his fingers around the cane and slides his hand down a few inches of it. His face promptly lights up and a smile follows soon after. It was no small gesture on Foggy's part - it's gifting a blind man some level of foresight and he knows that woodworking isn't Foggy's area of expertise.

"Thank you," Matt says quietly, swallowing as he turns his head a little, grip tightening on the cane. He has to mentally tell himself a couple of times that it's not a weapon ~~although it could be~~.

"Where did you- how did you even-"

"Don't hit people with it, it's just wood, it will snap." Because Foggy knows Matt, and knows now that Matt is constantly assessing how to defend himself and others (mostly others).

"Look, it's not that hard, even for me. I just cut an appropriate length of wood, shaved it down and then smoothed it. And as I say, I know Stark's making you something a hell of a lot better, but this is here now." He looks about for the source of the crash while he talks. "So, with that hopefully we can get you confident about how to get about this place. At the least, between here and the Inn."

Matt makes a face but purses his lips and nods. If it comes down to it he will definitely be hitting people with it. But he won't be going out looking for a fight. Not until he figures this all-consuming darkness out, anyway. In said darkness there's some melamine plates and tarnished cutlery scattered on the floor on the way to the kitchen, but it's quite far in the house, and honestly Matt wouldn't even think twice about it until he kicked it again.

"I trust you a lot more than I trust him," Matt comments softly. He's willing to work with Tony but it will take a while for Matt's... enthusiasm, to come out.

"I guess you've met him? What do you think?"

Foggy does go looking, because Matt is a human disaster and Foggy's used to helping him by now.

"Stark? Literally only in passing. I heard about the cane from Dr Banner, who introduced me to Stark and then I asked to use some wood working stuff and that was basically it?" He spies the plates and silverware and picks them up, stacking them neatly. "Plates are on the table in a pile, cutlery on them. "I don't have much of an opinion, honestly. Not outside media and tv. Why?"

Matt just shakes his head. "Thanks," he says quietly, but he doesn't say much more than that until after he's found his jacket - something Elektra pilfered from somewhere that he didn't ask too much about for their relationship's sake - and quietly slides one arm into it and then the other. It's a little roomy, but maybe he's lost some weight since cutting takeaways out of his diet.

"I don't feel like I'm a good judge of character anymore." He'd been overly reliant on his hearing to read people. Now they're all just dismembered distant voices hovering somewhere in front of him.

Foggy comes back and waits while Matt gets his jacket on. "Yeah. You and me both, buddy. I'm in the usual walking spot if you want an elbow."

His left elbow there for Matt's right hand. Unless Matt wants to use the cane with his right hand. "I thought we could work on here to the Inn and back again first. Since that seems like it's the trip you probably make the most."

He's flexible with either hand so as soon as his grasping into thin air finds Foggy's arm, he adapts, slipping his hand into that familiar curve of Foggy's folded arm while his left hand clutches onto the cane. He's not using it yet, holding it a third of the way down since he sort of knows his way around the house and he figures he'll need to lock the door, but he's definitely not letting go of it.

"You might just get me to the inn on record time," Matt comments with a laugh. Elektra's given up trying to help him after the fourth time he insisted he could find his own ass in the dark and ended up spending 45 minutes on what should have only taken ten or fifteen.

Foggy settles himself far too easily into the familiar role, arm just so for Matt's hand and body positioned to give Matt range and scope with his cane as he needs.

"Well, the idea is to get you there multiple times in record time so you can get yourself there in record time, any time. And importantly, we're going to use the pathways, because they're easier to navigate. It makes for a longer walk, but also means you don't have to walk to the neighbours' house and reorient yourself which the 'short cut' would."

"Okay." He's free for the whole day so they can take the long way around the entire village if Foggy's in the mood for it. Once the fumbling around stops when they exit the house and lock up, Matt seems a lot more comfortable navigating even the porch with a cane to guide him. It sweeps the floor, quietly tapping one side and then the other. He's spent years learning and using one so it's clearly not just for show.

"You can't give someone a pair of working eyes but this is honestly about as good as it gets," Matt says with a smile.

"Thanks again."

"Matt." Foggy has so much he still wants to say.

He isn't sure where to start.

"Any time. I hope you know that. I would do it any time." He pats the hand on his elbow. "First step, three feet. And you're not going to believe what work I've picked up here."

Matt's in the middle of working out that first three feet forward when he turns his head in Foggy's direction, pursing his lips and shaking his head. "Don't say butcher."

"Okay, I won't say it. It's one normal step and a bit more ahead of you."

He takes that step. So long as Matt stays at his elbow and shoulder, he can't fall. And if he does, it'll be into Foggy.

"It's the only thing I can offer right now. And don't use that to drag yourself down, you have skills, just a disability getting in your way. I don't really have much in the way of useful survival skills out here. If I was blind, I'd at least have a reason why I can't do much here."

He was only joking of course and he's glad that Foggy's found something that . Matt's still finding his footing, figuratively and literally, taking his time to navigate this place and figure out how he fits into it. It's not just the blindness, it's everything else that's been happening. That feeling of leaving Daredevil behind for good, the potential of settling down with Elektra - like, dare he even think it, some sort of 'normal' couple? - it's a whole new phase in life, and a lot to consider.

"No, I think it suits you Foggy. And I think it'd be helping out around here a lot more than paperwork, though... hasn't it been a while since you last got back into the family business?"

Whatever Foggy is really thinking or feeling... he hides it well now. Especially since Matt can't hear his heart or his breathing or whatever other ridiculous bullshit he used to pick up the lies.

"Yeah, but it's okay. not like any of the machines I've forgotten how to use are available here. And I can remember how to use a knife and cleaver and saw and follow directions from the guy who really knows what he's doing. One step, then the ground after. Once you get there, put your heels back against the step, gives you an unmoving point of reference."

Matt makes a face that is plain to see when Foggy mentions knife, cleaver and saw. He wrinkles his nose and turns his head away as if it'd hide the grimace. If he can't see them coming he won't know what hit him, or so they might have been tempted to joke once, but there's just been one too many worker's comp cases involving those things and Matt's worrying has only escalated since he got here.

He taps one heel and then the other back against the step to verify his compliance before turning his head back towards Foggy again.

"Would it be too hypocritical to say I'm still worried about you doing that?"

Foggy watches and raises an eyebrow. "You know the look I'm giving you, Murdock. I'm working with knives to carve up dead meat, it's hardly a high risk job. Not one comp case we've handled or witnessed involved standard knife and cleaver. Okay, we're going ahead for five regular steps, then turning ninety to the left."

He starts off.

It's not the easiest keeping track of their steps while carrying a semi-casual conversation - been a long time since Matt had to count steps and measure how many handspans things are placed in between each other - but Matt seems to be managing alright. Five steps ahead and then a sharp-ish turn.

"I wouldn't have met you if you'd stayed with the family business. Do you ever think about things like that?"

Yes. He has. Sometimes he thinks they would've met anyway, because he can't imagine who he would be without Matt. Sometimes... he doesn't.

"I never would've stayed in the family business. I might not have become a lawyer, but can you imagine me happy working in the shop? Nah. You know, I think the best would be to mark the end of the path and turn with a post, so when the cane hits that you know to turn again. I'll talk to Bull, he's a big, strong guy."

The fact that Foggy's been getting around and getting to know the other people here makes Matt smile. They're both quite social people, it's in the nature of their jobs, but admittedly since Matt got here his confidence had been a little shaken and he has been a little insular.

"Don't worry about it. It'll be a tripping hazard for everyone else," Matt insists quietly. "It's not hard to keep count."

"Matt, I'm talking about a fence post. Anyone manages to trip on that, they're probably very drunk, very high or you."

Matt's protest has been noted and will now be ignored. "Counting is easy, sure. But remembering all the step numbers and directions? And what happens if someone else is blinded? Or arrives who is blind? You're our guinea pig, Matt, to a more equal and accessible village." He starts guiding him along the path.

"That inspires nothing but confidence in me," Matt states with enough of a laugh and a smile to not come across as dry.

"I wasn't a priority for New York City. I don't think I'm going to be a priority here. Nor should I be." Matt's still of the opinion that they're supposed to be working toward the greater good. And 99% of the people headed in that direction don't need help navigating the place.

Of course he'd be changing his tune if someone else in a wheelchair or visually impaired showed up and genuinely needed the accessible options. But until then it does feel a little selfish.

"You're not going to tell me you're running for mayor, are you?"

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