Matty (Wicked)

Mat turned the page of his book, completely immersed in it. Although it was basically a text book, the boy had picked it up for some good reading. Entitled Understanding Humans, it was an introduction to physical anthropology and archaeology, two of Mathieu's favorite subjects. The boy had decided that, in an attempt to escape the air-headedness of his siblings, he would pick up a new study. Although he already knew a decent amount of information in it, there was some that was new to him, and he was fixed on acquiring the knowledge.

A sound began to distract him. At first, he didn't notice it much, and dismissed it, but the more it was there, the more it bothered him. It was like a constant drone of sound, with a couple of distortions. When his ear itched enough that Mat actually lifted his eyes from his book, and his head out of the information, he could recognize it as someone speaking. His nerves tingled, but he suppressed them, as usual. If he didn't constantly keep his anger in check, it would fly out in a disastrous rage. But, that rarely happened. Typically, people were frightened away before seeing his wrath, or someone who knew his violent tendencies was able to calm him.

The latter situation was not likely, in this instance, for Matt was quite alone in the room, but the voice in just out the door was still there, along with a lower-vibrancy multitude of other voices, which, discernible, did not bother Mat so much so as the one voice.

A little hot-hotheadedly, Mat pushed the textbook off of his lap. He swung his feet over the edge of his bunk, his socked-feet touching the floor with ease, explained by the height at which he then stood. He transected his room, laying a hand upon the doorknob and giving it a small turn. He should not have been surprised to see who was standing outside the doorway after it was opened. Tiberius Winters, the cabin leader, stood chatting with one of Mat's sisters. He had not an idea of what the discussion might have been, but he wanted it to end.

Mathieu had no pre-formed opinion of Tiberius. He only knew him by necessity, and had never actually engaged in a conversation with him. He had no reason to like, nor dislike him. However, if that was the case, Mat leaned on the side of dislike, as he had met few who met his standards. In fact, he had met none, as of yet, with whom he enjoyed company.

Mat gave a small, almost mockingly polite smile, in the direction of his younger half-brother. Typically, Mat would glower down his nose at whoever stood opposite, but in this case, since Ty was nearly Mat's height, he was reduced to simply glowering at eye-level. Mathieu's face gave hint of his annoyed attitude, but no more than a hint. His small grin dispersed, for the most part, any negative feeling conveyed by his eyes, which always held an attitude of annoyance.

"I would appreciate it if you took this conversation elsewhere," he interrupted, directly in the middle of Tiberius's sentence. "Your voice is so unfortunately annoying and what you say can't possibly be so important as to be unsaid elsewhere," he said. Although his words were abrasive, the smile remained, as if he had said something pleasant.

Mat watched as Ty stopped his conversation and turned to Mat. It gave him a decent amount of time to look him up and down. The boy had a tall but thin frame, with pale skin giving the overall appearance of someone who was sickly or easily broken. He had a strong face, with jet black hair which was an uncommon but appealing feature. Mat didn't observe that, though. His eyes excavated across Ty's skin, looking for imperfections and discrepancies that would lower Ty's attractive qualities. Though it is unfortunate, appearance is one of the key factors of first impressions, and Mat was determined to look for the minor flaws in Ty's appearance.

Upon hearing Ty's response, Mat was slightly taken aback. Did he really just talk back to him? The opposition's face was cold, with out the deceitful smile that Mat wore, but rather dead and emotionless. It didn't really surprise Mat, Ty's unenthusiastic demeanor. He never had a high opinion of the boy. He only knew him from small necessary encounters and in passing. He always wore the same unintelligent gaze, with the personality of a 19th-century blob fish.

"Surely it's not too much of an inconvenience on your fragile frame to take a couple steps away from my room? I know it might be hard, but I'm sue you'll push through, being the trooper you are," he satirically mocked. Mat was a rather well-muscled boy himself, and by juxtaposition next to Ty, he looked like he visited the gym daily. "I understand. I hope you, too, understand, when my wish is more of a demand the next time I need to ask it," Mat continued. He then lifted a hand and motioned down the small hall towards the center of the cabin and away from his door.

As he did this, his brain was working overtime. He logically balanced out his strengths and weaknesses, and building up what little information he had about Ty in order to create a scale of his strengths and weaknesses, as well. Whenever Mat got in a confrontation, which was more often than what was fortunate, he almost immediately  analyzed his opponent, should it come to violence. Which, most often, it did. He knew that Ty was weak, and Mat was strong. He knew that they were both kids of Aphrodite, so neither of them had the same supernatural advantage as, say, a Zeus camper. He knew that Ty could have a concealed weapon, in which case Mat would have to go on the defensive.

All the while the analysis was running, Mat's eyes twinkled, and his smile never faltered as he looked pleasantly at Tiberius.

Mat's history with confrontation is a treacherously shaky one. There was that one huge fight the first week he was in camp. People gathered around to watch him confront an Ares camper who was getting on his nerves. He had no idea the trouble in which he was getting into at the time, but he soon learned after a trip to the infirmary to be more weary of people's backgrounds. Then, there was that guy at the volleyball pit who foolishly accused Mathieu of cheating, the latter then popping him one in nose. The boy ran off, leaving blood drops on the ground. That was the instant before a strange blond girl approached him. Needless to say, Mathieu's temper got the best of him at times.

Mat's left eye gave an indistinguishable twitch as he looked at Ty. His neck grew hot, and tension built in his fingers. He slowly lowered his hand from it's gesture, and dropped it down by his side in a slow motion. He stared hard at the boy. His face had instantly dropped the smile that he wore the moment that his nerves began to tingle with disgust. His eyes no longer looked over Ty's skin, but rather looked upon the boy as a king might look at a hayseed. Perhaps this look was what caused the girl to whom Ty was talking to shake her head and walk away. She was obviously not getting anywhere, and wasn't going to find herself in the middle of these two.

Mat let out a long, dramatic sigh, turning away from Ty for a moment. He considered the boy's words carefully. It was obviously easier to just pick up his book and leave rather than carrying on the argument. After all, peace and quiet was what Mat desired the most. However, it would be unwise to encourage the sort of unacceptable behavior that Ty exhibited. He had to discourage it while it was young.

Just before speaking again, Mat turned back to Ty, and replaced his smile.

"You know.. I don't think I will," Mat said, tipping his head to the side. "In fact, you're the one in the wrong, not I. This room is my place of residence, not yours. Yours is that way," he said, once again waving his head, however this time with less care, as his patience wore thin. "So I'm going to have to say once more that you need to move yourself to your room, or a public area, where your voice will not disrupt my learning," he declared.