A Tale of Two Matt's {Matt T}

[matt]

12th July, 2009

Matt wasn't in a very good place, well, he had Jenna, but things were fairly new there, no the reason why he wasn't in a good place was because he didn't have Molly. He missed her, and he still couldn't believe that Daphne had gone and fallen for his best friend Mohinder behind his back when he'd gone off to do a bit of soul searching. It wasn't his fault he got lost along the way, he had still expected to come home to his family, but when he got to his house, both Daphne and Molly were gone.

It took some time for Matt to get over that ordeal, but then he met Jenna and he felt like his whole world had changed. But as much as he loved Jenna, he still missed Molly, and he couldn't wait to get the custody battle over with. He knew Molly loved him, and he had a feeling he was the one she wanted to stay with, but he also knew Mohinder had power over Matt, being on the side of the Government, he had power that Matt would never possess, the power of a good lawyer.

He was just finishing up some work on a case, when he heard someone say his name, he turned, but nobody seemed to be there, then he heard it again. That was when he realised it had to be someone saying his name in their head. He zoomed round, scanning the streets and crowd to try and find who it was, then he zoned in one person and his name was far more clearer.

He walked up to the person, and put his hand gently on their shoulder, so as not to startle them, "Are you looking for me by any chance?" He wondered who this person was, and why he was saying his name in his head, but he hoped to find out once the person turned to him, and answered his question.

[shadnicth]

Nevada... Wasn't quite what Matt had in mind, as he walked down the street, looking and scanning the area. After the troubles he had getting here, one of them being the ordeal with Ray in Kansas, he knew that finally his efforts would be paid off. However it was impossible to try and find Parkman in the crowds. He didn't even have his address. So he figured he might try something that was a bit out of the ordinary.

He found a bench on the street that was next to a bus stop and sat down on it, focusing his mind for what he was about to do. He simply closed his eyes, and increasing his level of focus, and soon he would just keep thinking to himself,

Matthew Parkman...

He kept saying the name over and over in his mind, opening his eyes and looking around to see if anyone had heard him. Nothing still. So he kept on going. It seemed like hours, when in reality, only a couple of minutes had passed as a thought entered his head that made him stop. Soon afterwards, Parkman's hand was on his shoulder, followed by his question of if he was looking for him. Matt whipped his head around, seeing Parkman in front of him and immediately got up off the bench, looking at him enthuastically.

"Mr Parkman? Oh good, you heard me... Guess you are the telepath Emilie was telling me about." Matt said, a grin beaming on his face as he looked at Parkman.
"My name is Matthew Tobruk, and I'm a power mimic. I recently acquired your power off someone in New York, and I came here to ask for you to help me control it." He said with a smile.

[matt]

After Matt tapped the person on the shoulder asking if they had been looking for him, he wondered why this person was indeed looking for him. People looking for him were usually always in some sort of trouble or other. He wondered if this was the case with this person, but when they turned to face him Matt could see the young guy had a very kind face, so he doubted they were here to cause trouble.

"Yes I am Mr. Parkman." But he shook his head as the guy went on to mention the name Emilie, he hadn't heard of it at all. Who was she and why did she know him? The young guy seemed happy enough to have found him, which made him want to find out all the more who this Emilie person was. "Emilie? I'm sorry, but I don't know anybody called Emilie, how do you know the person and how does she know me?" Matt had been faced with many a situation, so nothing would surprise him. He had already met a future Peter and a future Hiro, could it be possible this Emilie person was from the future as well? Or, could it be that the guy he was talking to was from the future?

He shook his head of all thoughts running through it, because it was giving him a headache and the young guy had decided to introduce himself, which made Matt grin, as he realised he shared the same name, well first name at any rate. Matt nodded his head as the younger guy spoke to him about why he was there.

"Well, pleased to meet you Matt!, Now that sounds funny, like I'm talking to myself." He laughed, shrugging his shoulders back a little. So, he had managed to acquire the telepathy ability had he, Matt knew how much of a curse it was to him at the beginning, but now he quite enjoyed having it, now he was able to focus and keep thoughts out he didn't want.

"Well, I'll see what I can do to help you, the main thing is just to learn to focus, so you can learn to zone in and out of thoughts. I actually have to concentrate very hard to read anyone's thoughts now." Matt wasn't sure if this was what the young guy wanted to hear or not, but as far as he was concerned, it was a start at least.

{ooc - changed date - figured - what the hell haha}

[shadnicth]

(you didn't have to, but thanks. Also sorry for short post, crappy muse today.)

Matt smiled as Parkman introduced himself, even chuckling a little when he made the comment about his name.
"Yeah... funny that huh?" He said, smiling as Parkman explained that he didn't know Emilie. That would be true, since she was from the future.
"Oh right... Emilie. You haven't met her yet. She's from the future." Matt said, hoping that would explain a lot to Parkman.

When Parkman explained that focus was the key to telepathy, it was the same that Emilie had told him. Matt had already learned to muffle voices so that it was like a hum in his head, but not to block them out completely. He lit up though when Parkman said that he had to focus to read thoughts, not just block them out anymore.

"Really? Wow, that's amazing. I can sorta muffle the voices now, so that the thoughts aren't clear, but it takes focus, like you said... Mr. Parkman, I came here all the way from New York for your help... Will you help me control this please?" He asked, looking at Matt enthusiastically.

[matt]

{that's alright - like I said before - can happen to the best of us}

Matt laughed as the other Matt agreed that it was funny they shared the same first name, and now shared an ability, even if it wasn't the guy's main one. "Now what would have been even more funny, was if you had the same surname. No, actually, that wouldn't be funny, it would be freaky."

When Matt mentioned he didn't know the name Emilie, the other Matt confirmed that he hadn't met her yet as she was from the future. So, his assumptions had been right, or at least part of them had been right. He nodded his head, smiling, "I wondered if she might have been, but then I wondered if it was maybe yourself from the future." So, that was that question answered. He would have to remember when he ever met an Emilie in the future, to be aware of the fact she had sent the other Matt to him for help.

The other Matt then went on to explain he was from New York and had come all the way to Nevada for his help, and would he do that, help him. Matt couldn't see any reason why not. "Well, like I said before, I'll do my best to help you. It's mostly down to concentration. Other than telling you that, am not sure how else I can really help you. It's a difficult ability to actually show you how to concentrate." He was hoping he was making sense to this Matt without dashing his hopes too much.

It wasn't like he had a physical ability he could show him how to use and control, unless he were to get this Matt to think things, and then he could show him that way, that he wasn't hearing a thing at first, and then show the concentration of him then zoning into the thoughts to hear them. It was all he could think of to do, actively, which could maybe help more.

[shadnicth]

"Concentration... That's what Emilie said." Matt said, looking at Parkman with a weak grin. He couldn't help but to have the thought cross his head that maybe he had come all this way for nothing. If all it took was concentration to control his telepathy, well than Matt would have a hard time learning to use his new power. He had the attention span of a five year old mostly.

"So... that's it? Just concentration?" Matt asked, looking at Parkman for some sort of guidance. Matt had only found out about his mimicry a couple of weeks ago... He had no idea how to control his own mimicry, only that it was through skin contact he absorbed powers, and that sometimes he could turn it off.

[matt]

In a way Matt was feeling terrible he couldn't help this other Matt more. But he really couldn't think of how he could help, telepathy wasn't an ability you could easily show someone to use, was it? Then again, he had never been asked to help someone control their telepathic powers before. He caught the guy's weak smile, and then felt a little sorry for him, as he had travelled a helluva long way to be met with someone telling him he needed concentration.

"Pretty much yeah." He shook his head then, there had to be other ways he could help this guy. "Alright, we're in the middle of a busy city, how many thoughts can you hear running through your head? I don't mean by counting them, I mean are there a lot of jumbled thoughts from just about everybody? Or are you only hearing a select few? Are you hearing mine? Because I can't hear anything right now."

Of course, Matt could hear anyone's thoughts he wanted to hear, if he just focused enough. He then began to wonder if this Matt knew the extent of his ability. "Do you even know what your ability can do, other than just hearing thoughts?" If he didn't know this, then maybe the guy's trip wouldn't be such a wasted one after all, he could teach him everything he needed to know about his ability, and not just telling him to concentrate to shut out thoughts.

[shadnicth]

"Well... Right now it's like a hum in my head, various voices becoming clear for a moment. But if I look at someone and focus on them, I can hear them more clearly than the others. It's like I'm listening with my ears almost. I can hear you, but just barely. I think it's because you're telepathic too, that's why I'm getting a muffled reading." Matt said, looking at Parkman as he explained his skill with the ability.

When Parkman asked him about whether he knew what he was truly capable of with his power, Matt simply shrugged.
"Um... Reading minds? Isn't that what Telepathy is?" He asked, unaware of the true potential of the power. He had the thought in the back of his head that maybe it would be possible to speak telepathically, but nothing else.

[matt]

{ooc - sorry took so long - just had a few off days}

"Alright, it seems you know the basics of zoning in and out of thoughts, that if you are to concentrate on one single person you will read their thoughts more clearly. That is very true. You probably would have difficulty reading me at the best of times, because I'm a telepath as well. Thing is, I can't hear any thoughts at all, not unless I really want to." Now was going to be the difficult part, trying to explain to him, how to keep all these jumbled thoughts out of his head.

"You say, if you concentrate on someone, you will hear their thoughts more clearly? Well, what you do to make that happen, is what you need to learn to do to shut out all thoughts, and then you will find it easier to just tune into one person's thoughts at a time." He really hoped he was making sense to this guy. Teaching someone how to zone in and out of thoughts, was not an easy task by any means.

Matt a feeling the guy didn't know the full potential of his power. If he had known how to zone in and out of thoughts, he'd probably have a better idea. "Yeah, but there's much more to it than just reading thoughts." How much should he tell the young guy right away? "Well, you can project thoughts to another person, not just a telepath. Say you wanted to tell your girlfriend she had something between her teeth, but didn't want to embarrass her by saying it out loud, you can project that thought into her head. There's more to it than that, but let's see how you cope with trying to do that first. Use it on me."

Matt hoped now, that this younger guy, also called Matt wouldn't think his trip was so wasted now.

[shadnicth]

"Right... so if I look at someone, I might try to block their thoughts... so that it kinda does the opposite. Like you. You said that you have to focus to read minds now. Maybe I need to train myself to do that." Matt said, looking at the other Matt with a smile, a clear understanding now of how to block out thoughts. He liked it when Parkman had said that he had gotten the basics of zoning in on thoughts... maybe he just needed to expand.

When Parkman explained that telepathy was more than reading minds, that it was possible to project his own thoughts into other people... Matt couldn't help but smile.
"Really? You mean like messing with people, making them think things? Sorta like mind control?" Matt asked, looking at Parkman with enthusiastic eyes. This trip was definitely worth it now.

When Parkman asked Matt to try and project his thoughts to him, Matt raised an eyebrow.
"Um... Ok... but how would I do that?" He asked.

[matt]

The smile on the younger Matt's face made Matt feel like maybe he was finally beginning to understand what he had to do to zone in and out of thoughts. So that was one part of telling him how to use his ability dealt with. "It does take time, I won't deny that Matt, but the more you do it, the easier it will become, just trust me on that."

When Matt then told the younger guy he could project thoughts into people's heads, he seemed a little enthusiastic about the prospect, a little too enthusiastic maybe? However, Matt smiled at him. "In a way, yes. You can make someone believe what you want them to believe, this is a bit of a gross way to explain it, but you could make someone believe that dog dirt on the ground was a bar of chocolate, and watch with horror or pleasure, however you look at it, as they ate it." Matt couldn't help but laugh a little after explaining that, it wasn't the best way to explain, but he thought it might be the easiest way for Matt to understand what he meant.

"You can also create a scene in a person's mind. Say, you were helping to hide someone, and people came knocking on your door and asked to come in. You could then go into their head, and make them see your room without the person you were hiding. It all takes time, and some parts of it, don't happen right away. For a long time, I was only able to read thoughts, but now I can do everything I've just told you."

Of course, Matt has asked the younger guy to try projecting thoughts into his head, and the inevitable happened. The younger guy asked how he did that. "You actually, in a way did it earlier, when you were saying my name, as I wasn't particularly reading your thoughts, I just heard my name be said over and over. Again, it's mostly down to concentration. Just close your mind of to everything, like your blank, and then just look at me, concentrate on me, and then say what you want me to hear." There wasn't any other way he could help him with that. He told him what he had to do, now it was just down to sheer concentration.

[shadnicth]

Matt nodded as Parkman explained what telepathy was capable of doing, the examples of making people see what wasn't there... It was like Maury had done back in Kansas. When he made Adam and Knox appear out of nowhere.

As Parkman explained how to project thoughts into other people, nodding as he spoke.
"Ok... here goes." Matt said, closing his eyes as he cleared his mind of all thoughts, his mind becoming a mental blank. He then opened his eyes, looking directly into Parkman's eyes as he focused hard, his eyes boring into Parkman's.
If you can hear me, nod your head. Matt projected towards to Parkman.

[matt]

{OOC - again, sorry for delay - but had no internet as such yesterday}

When Matt had explained to the other Matt about the depths of his ability, he didn't say anything back to him, so he assumed he'd understood what he had told him. However, he had then told him to try and project a thought into his head, it did take concentration, or at least it did for Matt. He wondered if the younger guy would be able to do it.

He watched as the younger Matt locked his eyes with himself, Matt smiled, giving him encouragement, he seemed to be doing the right thing. Now all that needed to happen, was for Matt to hear what the younger Matt was saying to him. Seconds later, the thought came into his head. Matt smiled, and then nodded his head, just as the younger Matt had suggested for him to do.

"You did it Matt. Well done. Now tell me, clearing your mind, to do that, what you just did, has it made the other thoughts disperse at all?" He asked this, because he had hoped, getting the younger Matt to concentrate on projecting a thought into his head, would shut out all the other thoughts he could hear. Hopefully, now, the younger Matt would have to listen very carefully to hear thoughts, and not just have them all come running into his head at once, like an express train.

[shadnicth]

(Sorry for delay, just had a lot of college work to be done.)

Matt couldn't help but beam a wide grin when the older Matt nodded his head, showing that his projection had worked. He wasn't aware of the fact his head was empty as he issued his command, until the older Matt pointed it out.
"You know what... I didn't hear a thing when I projected it. So that means if I keep concentrating all the time... It'll be like second nature to block the thoughts as well as hear them!" Matt said, smiling at Parkman.

Even now, after his lesson in projection, his mind was a hell of a lot more clearer. The voices that were there had died down immensely, to the point that they were very faint, almost non existent.
"So... can you teach me to make people see things? Like illusions?" Matt asked Parkman, eager for his next lesson.

Who knew you could learn so much from a stranger on the street?

[matt]

{ooc - its fine sweetie - we all get busy days - just so long as you don't leave us or Emilie permanently}


When Matt had heard the younger Matt's projected thought, he was so happy for the younger Matt. He had then asked if he felt the other thoughts had dispersed any during his concentration of projecting that thought to himself. He was happy with the younger Matt's excited response. "That's great, I wondered if it would work, and yes, if you keep concentrating all the time, you will soon have to concentrate just as hard to hear thoughts as well as project them." Matt felt pleased that he had now been able to help this younger guy, he hated the idea of the younger guy coming all this way for maybe nothing, and now he hadn't.

Soon enough the younger Matt was asking if he could teach him how to make people see things, like the illusions. Matt nodded his head with a smile. "Sure, but just remember what you can do, is not exactly creating illusions, that's an entirely different ability altogether. What you do is make someone's mind see what you want them to see. Technically it's an illusion of sorts, only this is in this person's mind." Matt explained hoping the younger Matt would know what he meant by trying to explain the difference.

"Alright, again, it needs concentration. Clear your head, if it's not still clear, zone into my head, so that you're mind is actually in mine, and then just say what you want me to see, and we'll see if it works." Hopefully the younger Matt would manage it, since he seemed to grasp projecting thoughts well enough, he should be able to grasp this.