[ When the Porter brings Matthew back, he hangs on to the assumption that it's been a few days, maybe a week or two. Even so, he wants to get back to the Meadows as soon as possible, but when an elderly local lady approaches him at the bus stop, he innocently offers his assistance. A quarter hour later, she's still clutching his arm with one hand and patting it with the other, and it's glaringly obvious to anyone with half a brain (so, not Matthew) that she does not intend to let him go any time soon. They've crossed the same street four times, back and forth, and his bus is looong gone.

Oh, you're such a nice boy. My grandson wears your cologne, you know.

Matthew laughs, bright and tirelessly cheerful. ]

Really? Cool! [ He means it. ] Hey, which way did you say his apartment is?

[ Oh, it must be this way. Or... Well, I'm not sure. Maybe it's down that street there.

Someone rescue this boy. ]

[ Despite Matthew's long absence, signs of the youngest Lynch's presence have remained tucked away at the Meadows since the day he left: a door in the hallway that refuses to open, warm light streaming 24/7 from the crack between it and the floor. A yellow Mini Cooper parked in the garage with the hoard of other vehicles, cheerful and driverless. A grafitti mural preserved on the side of the church, the obvious work of many hands, one pair of which was content to scatter the area with meaningless happy squiggles in every available color, like a child with a bucket of chalks. (Except the mural is in spray paint.)

When Matthew returns, he spends the first few days sticking close to these familiar places. The door to his room is thrown open, and stays that way much of the time, an invitation to any and all to stop by and hang out. Even if he's hunched up on the floor in front of his bed, hugging a pillow to his chest and scrolling through his phone with a rather perplexed look on his face and a plate with a half-eaten poptart sitting next to him on the floor. Perhaps especially then.

One sunny day, he carefully drives his car out into the front yard, climbs out, climbs back in to check that the windows are rolled up all the way, climbs back out and starts scrubbing the vehicle down with a large sponge and a bucket of soapy water. He doesn't seem bothered by the chilly March air.

On a different day, one might find him by the church, seated under the mural, the back of his head pressed against the wall. His eyes are scrunched closed. A few rose petals drift implausibly out of his curls ("implausibly" because the petals didn't exist a moment before), one coming to rest on his shoulder. ]

PB: Danny Flaherty

Matthew is "a bear of a boy, square and solid and earnest." He has golden curls that are described at one point as "cherubic" and his eyes are round, blue, and innocent. He's a big, healthy, contact-sports-playing fifteenSEVENTEEN-ISH-year-old boy with dimples and perfect teeth (the teeth are apparently a family trademark, though he is presumably the only dimpled Lynch.)

Matthew is indeliberately charming, untiringly cheerful, and rather simple. Or just plain dumb, depending on the day. He does not have much self-awareness so feel free to point out that he is dumb, because he probably has no idea. If you do this nicely, he will laugh at himself, because that doesn't give him any problems. If you are mean about it you might hurt his feelings. :(

He has no trouble making friends which is good because he does not like to be alone. Most likely he wants to be your friend! He's also very innocent.

This is 100% headcanon, yo. Matthew wears simple, comfortable, preppy clothes, because he's a little farm boy but also a prince. His everyday wardrobe contains a lot of shorts and button-down shirts in light colors. He cleans up nice for church and fancy parties. If he's wearing a suit, he's also wearing cologne. A little too much cologne. (That part is actually not headcanon.)

For all you telepaths out there. Matthew does not have trains of thought. Matthew's thoughts are butterflies, flitting around through the happy little cloud of his mind. Sometimes he comes to somewhat inexplicable conclusions. I try to include flavor text in most of my tags about his specific thoughts at any given time, just know that he does not always go from point A to point B in the most straightforward or sensible way.

At one point in the books Matthew is described as "rumbling" in reply to someone, so I assume his voice is somewhat deep, to match his big, square body. Sometimes he makes grammatical slip-ups (confusing "real" and "really", for example.) He is very casual in his way of speaking, and often his speech is reflective of the fact that his thoughts like to wander. It's not uncommon for him to finish a sentence without finish a thought. So then he's gotta clarify. Like, after the first sentence is already finished. You know?

Matthew is not a normal human being and it's possible people with certain powers would be able to pick up on that. He does not have a complete soul.

backtagging: sure! If I drop a thread I can guarantee that I got overwhelmed by my inbox but I don't mind taking a while to finish things up
threadhopping: please do this
fourth walling: preferably not
offensive or triggering subjects: I'm generally cool with whatever ooc, EXCEPT animal abuse; I'm a giant emotional weenie about that. But if something else bothers me I'll ignore or bow out of the conversation, nbd. THAT SAID while I am okay with stuff ooc there are places I don't want to go with Matthew in-game because he's pure and young and other things. I have no intentions of putting him in a bubble (bad things have happened to him in the books) but if something feels particularly sketchy I'm gonna nope on out. Please definitely feel free to message me about specific scenarios and I will let you know if it's cool, since this is a very situational thing.

platonic affection: PLEASE. Hug him, pat his head, straighten his tie, do all these things because he will not mind at all.
romance: Provided it remains as pure as anything you'd see in a Disney channel movie then yes.
fighting/injury: WHY, WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS but if you gotta then yes, sure. Just warn me before injuring him and enjoy those ICC if Ronan finds out.
telepathy/mind-reading: Definitely open to this, too! Just hit me up in advance so we can hash out what tremendous insights your character will stumble across in Matthew's head.

(Please note that all the following is only Matthew's alloted portion of the story. It is hardly a full and complete summary of the books, because he does not play a part in most of the main characters' adventures. As a result, there are a lot of things he doesn't know.)

Matthew's childhood was magical in every way. He grew up in a family of three brothers: there was Declan, the eldest and most serious; Ronan, the middle and most fierce; and then Matthew himself, the youngest and least real. Even so, he was his mother's favorite son and Ronan's favorite playmate. They lived on a secluded farm called the Barns, a place of love and safety (for most of them), keeping largely though not entirely to themselves. Except for Niall Lynch, their father, who spent much of his time elsewhere.

When Matthew was fourteen, everything changed. Niall was bludgeoned to death in their own driveway, and everything fell apart. The brothers were kicked off the farm as a condition of their father's will, and their mother stopped speaking to them, or to anyone else. Ronan and Declan fought, disastrously, and then they stopped speaking to each other, too. While Declan and Matthew moved into the dorms of Aglionby Academy (a prestigious and expensive all-boys school), Ronan moved into an old manufacturing building with his best friend, Richard Gansey III.

Time went on, and of the three of them Matthew resumed life the most easily. He made a number of casual friends, Aglionby boys and locals alike. Despite the fact that Declan and Ronan could barely stand to be around one another without the situation devolving into an all-out brawl, the Lynch brothers also continued to attend Sunday Mass together every week, at Matthew's request.

A year after his father's death, at the start of the summer, Declan had a violent run-in with a burglar, or so he claimed. Ronan always insisted Declan was a liar. When Matthew found a gun in Declan's car, even he began to wonder, and to worry. He tried to ask questions, but as much as his brothers hated each other, they were very alike in their tightness with their secrets.

One day, Ronan showed up to fetch Matthew from school. He said they were going home. Matthew told him they couldn't, they weren't allowed, and Ronan told him to shut up. So they made the drive from Henrietta to Singer's Falls, back to the Barns, back to their kingdom, where Matthew saw his mother for the first time in a year. She was in the sitting room, asleep, and she wouldn't wake up.

While Ronan got up to whatever he'd needed to do at their old home, Matthew wandered the house, until he realized they weren't alone. He and Ronan barricaded themselves in the sitting room while something that definitely wasn't human tried to get inside. Once the danger passed and Matthew asked what it was, Ronan answered, "There are bad things in this world." And that was the only explanation Matthew got.

On the Fourth of July, he woke up ready for holiday mass, but he never made it to the church. Instead, he woke up again, this time in the trunk of a car. Outside were fireworks, explosions, screaming--and Ronan's voice, full of panic and anger. Matthew, mind foggy and limbs heavy from the drugs he didn't know he'd been given, thumped the inside of the trunk with his hands until it popped open and he could climb out. Immediately, Ronan dragged him to the ground, shielding him from the dragon--yes, a dragon--that was headed towards them.

They escaped unsinged, but the boy who had kidnapped Matthew--Joseph Kavinsky--did not. He died, and the dragon fell to the ground. As if that weren't enough, another monster hung in the air above them--a white, double-beaked creature straight out of a nightmare.

"That thing. Is it one of dad's secrets?" Matthew asked. And Ronan answered, "You'll see, because I'm going to tell you all of them."

This was the secret: Niall Lynch, their father, was a magician, a man who could pull objects from his dreams into reality. And even more than objects--their mother, Aurora, had come from his dreams, and that was why his death had resulted in her unwakeable sleep. But Ronan knew of a place they could take her where she might wake up again--a magical forest called Cabeswater, a place of dreams.

The secret had a second part: Ronan inherited the dreamer's ability. The raven monster was his creation, one of many. That same night, after Matthew was safe, Ronan dreamed a new portion of their father's will, allowing the brothers to return to the Barns to visit, and resume living there when they turned eighteen. They returned to the Barns to collect Aurora, and then brought her to the forest, where she opened her eyes and reached for them both. "My love," she said to Matthew, her favorite, and from then on Cabeswater was her home.

Matthew and Ronan began to visit Cabeswater regularly, along with Ronan's friends: Gansey, Blue Sargent, Adam Parrish, and sometimes another boy named Noah. These visits were little slices of paradise for Matthew--a family reunited (minus Niall, who was dead; and Declan, who was never invited), the opportunity to make new friends, and Cabeswater itself, which was only too happy to attend to the people who loved it so much. But it wasn't all about pleasure; Ronan and his friends had business there, too. Cabeswater, they knew, had a connection to an ancient Welsh king called Glendower, who was, they believed, sleeping underground and waiting to bestow a favor on the person who would find and wake him. Their plan was to wake him. Matthew was given a very small part in this quest, namely, to occasionally wait outside Cabeswater and keep time while the others searched the forest for clues.

Sometimes Ronan brought him back to the Barns, too. It was here that Matthew grew more familiar with his brother's dream creations. Declan, who had by this time graduated from Aglionby, moved to D.C., though he still came back to Henrietta for church every Sunday.

Summer ended, school resumed, and Matthew continued living much the same as usual, contentedly oblivious to the danger growing around him, though his brothers were not. Declan showed up at school on Ronan's birthday, much to Ronan's annoyance and Matthew's delight, and made a few things clear: Henrietta was not safe. Their father had played too fast and too loose with his ability to dream, and in his attempts to profit off of his talents had made too many enemies. Declan had been trying to keep them away, selling off their father's old dream creations from D.C., drawing the attention away from Henrietta and his little brothers. But it wasn't enough; something big was going to happen soon and he wouldn't be able to protect them.

He asked Ronan to leave, to come with him back to D.C. where they could live together again as brothers, leaving behind everything from the past. Ronan answered, "Take Matthew."

That night, they had a party at the Barns: all three Lynch brothers together, along with Gansey, Adam, and Blue. It was a birthday party and a going away party all in one, a celebration for Matthew's benefit, and one that he fully enjoyed. At the end of the night, he and Declan said goodbye to the others and left for D.C., where Matthew would live from then on. He didn't question the plan, because it only made sense that his brothers would keep him safe. At some point during the two hour drive, he dozed off... and then woke up Ported back to another world!

Mask or Menace history: Wait, Ported back you say? Why yes! I played Matthew in this game about a year and a half ago. Upon his re-arrival into the universe, he will recall all of his past experiences.

The first time around, he spent most of his time on his brother's magical dream farm, The Meadows. It was here that he got to hang out with the rest of the Raven Cycle gang every day and help take care of the animals, including Ronan's dream/nightmare monster: a giant bird creature called Henrietta. (Matthew loved her.)

When not at the Meadows, Matthew attended school (where he met and befriended Lucy Pevensie, who was his closest non-canon cr) and worked as a paralegal intern for a group of lawyers. Having his own job and learning how to use the public transportation system helped him to learn some independence that he'd never needed before, which also delighted him.

One day, with no warning, he passed out in the kitchen. When he woke up again, a rather freaked out Gansey and Adam informed him that he'd been asleep for an entire week. Ronan, it turned out, had been Ported out during that time, and when he returned he did not have any memories of his previous time spent in the game. He and Matthew talked, and after some prodding Ronan admitted what Matthew had already partly realized on his own: that Matthew fell asleep because he himself is one of Ronan's own dreams. As a toddler, Ronan had wanted a little brother, so naturally, he made one for himself. Over time, Ronan forgot about his impulsive creation, but Declan never forgot, and had reminded Ronan of Matthew's supernatural origins.

While the realization that he was not actually the natural born son of his parents came as a bit of a shock, Matthew decided at the time that it was no big deal and he didn't care about being a dream as long as his family still loved him. He told Lucy what he'd learned about himself, and she accepted him as well.

A few days later, Matthew had his 16th birthday. Ronan and the others threw him a birthday party, and then Ronan gave him a car. Learning how to drive, partying with friends--Matthew felt like a regular person. Well, most of the time. He was also starting to notice that the people he lived with seemed a lot more... complicated than him, particularly in regards to their relationships with each other. Matthew's friendships until this point had been primarily casual, while the people he lived with now were so wrapped up in each other's lives that a tiny ripple between them could turn into a tidal wave before he even realized that something was happening.

A crazy magic plot happened and Matthew was switched with an alternate universe version of himself who, due to a young Ronan's tragic death, never grew up past the age of seven. Tiny Matthew spent most of his time unsettled by unfamiliar people and surroundings, and then when the plot ended and the original Matthew returned, but retained the memories of being his alternate universe self, an uncomfortable anxiety began to grow inside him. Without his brother, Matthew's life could just stop--for weeks, or even years, before picking up again in a completely different place. Or it might just stop forever. Was he even a real person? Or at least, real enough?

Ronan got very upset when he learned about Matthew's concerns, so Matthew suppressed them, because upsetting Ronan was unbearable. Instead, he turned his attentions to pursuing happiness even more willfully, trying new things and taking advantage of all his opportunities. This led to some developments between him and Noah, in the form of innocent friend-kissing. (Matthew had never dated anyone before.)

He also wanted to be a better "more real" friend to Lucy, and to support her as best as he could in her campaign to become the Ambassador of De Chima. This led to him being present at a couple different social functions that turned into complete chaos (Kavinsky and Calendar Man ruining 4th of July at the De Chima Civil War Museum, and then giant earthquake-causing monsters attacking an ambassador ceremony in Philadelphia later that same month.)

Matthew escaped both of these events relatively unscathed and, once again, tried to forget the unpleasantness as quickly as possible so that he could focus on more interesting things: making more friends around the city, practicing his powers, attending toga parties, kissing Noah some more. Their feelings for one another continued to grow, and eventually they decided to become official boyfriends despite a recently heartbroken Ronan warning Matthew that bad things could happen if they got serious.

Ronan was promptly Ported out for a canon update and Matthew fell asleep again, this time during his and Noah's first official date. It was another unsettling experience, but he shook it off when he learned that he'd only lost a couple days.

Not long after, however, Adam and Gansey were Ported back home as well, and a highly distressed Ronan moved out, leaving Noah and Matthew to care for the Meadows alone. They made the best they could of the situation, but it was difficult for them both.

Matthew spent his last few days in the game feeling rather out of sorts and haunted by a strange girl, after being injected with experimental dream drugs by one Joseph Kavinsky. He will not remember these days very clearly.

Matthew Lynch was a bear of a boy, square and solid and earnest. His head was covered with soft, golden curls completely unlike any of his other family members. And in his case, the perfect Lynch teeth were framed by an easy, dimpled smile. He had two brands of smile: the one that was preceded by a shy dip of his chin, a dimple, and then BAM, smile. And then the one that teased for a moment before BAM, an infectious laugh. Females of all ages called him adorable. Males of all ages called him buddy. Matthew failed at many more things than either of his brothers, but unlike Declan or Ronan, he always tried his hardest.
-The Dream Thieves

Although Matthew was dreamed into the world on the whim of a toddler, he was dreamed with a particular purpose--to be a perfect playmate, indulgent, and unconditional in his love. As a result, his default state is one of eager joy and affection. He loves being around people and always tries his best at whatever he's doing, though he fails often. His failures never seem to get him down, nor do they ever seem to be much counted against him. He is a very simple, earnest, pleasant person to be around, and dumb in a way that tends to make people want to take care of him, rather than berate or make fun.

Bad things do not stick to this boy. A year after their father's death, Matthew is able to talk about Niall without grief. When Kavinsky drugs and kidnaps him, Matthew very nearly dies but after the danger has passed seems completely unaffected by the experience. He never mentions it again in the books, which could be chalked up to the fact that both he and the incident were no longer plot relevant, but in every scene after he is described with words such as ebulliant, pleasant, and unafraid. It seems that he cares far more about the fact that Ronan was able to wake up Aurora that night, and not the part where Matthew groggily came to in the trunk of a car and nearly got blown up by a dragon.

In much the way that Matthew remains continually untarnished by the ugliness of the world, he also tends to brush off the less attractive sides of people. When talking about their father and his obvious favoritism for Ronan, Matthew says, "I didn't care. Everybody has favorite things." Though he expresses confusion about the rift between his brothers--"I don't know why you guys can't get along"--he also never places blame on either of them. In this way, he is highly accepting of people who are not like himself.

Matthew's family is Catholic and faith has been an inextricable part of his life, although, as with everything else, his views are simplified. He believes in God, and clearly makes an effort to be a good kid--turning down wine at communion, trying to protest when Ronan tells him to do something they aren't supposed to. His edgiest moment in-series is when he says the word "shit" in front of Ronan, possibly an attempt to impress his older brother who swears like it's going out of style. (In fact, Ronan's exact response in this scene is to tell Matthew "don't fucking swear".) The point is, Matthew clearly tries to behave himself, much more so than either of his brothers, because being good is, well, good. It helps that he is basically incapable of legit sin.

One of the only "negative" emotions Matthew seems to be capable of feeling is fear or worry, but it's rarely long-lived. It often takes only a very simple explanation--or non-explanation--from someone he trusts to calm him down, or even just a bit of time. He's not a tricky person to reassure. (Please note: due to his previous experiences in Mask or Menace, there are a few concerns that now linger with him, but only because the threat is a constant and not something he can just leave in the past. While he hardly dwells on the problem, it's an unavoidable fact that his continued existence depends on Ronan and Matthew could unwillingly hit the snooze button on his own life at any time, for an unknown amount of time. He also had a few more run-ins with Kavinsky, none of them pleasant, and does not feel comfortable when he remembers that Kavinsky is still around.)

In summary, Matthew is a very sweet, simple boy. He waves at babies and gets distracted by butterflies and can't bear to see Ronan upset. He might not know what a shoebox looks like and sometimes needs to have his thoughts guided to even a straightforward conclusion. He plays contact sports, is a mama's boy, eats like a horse, trusts easily, and prays sincerely. He may or may not be a real person.

• Dream Creature: He will retain his "form" as one of Ronan's dreams, rather than becoming a regular human on arrival. Primarily, this means that his continued existence depends on Ronan: if Ronan were to die or be ported out, Matthew would fall asleep until Ronan came back**. In addition, Matthew does not have his own soul, but instead he possesses a small piece of Ronan's.
  
  In the books, Matthew's mother Aurora is able to manipulate the fabric of Cabeswater because it is a dream place and she is a dream person. For example, at one point she walks through a rock, and she is also able to create roses. Bearing this in mind, if any other characters in the game have dream-related abilities or powers, it's possible that Matthew might have a different reaction than most to said powers, or be able to interact with them in an unusual way. Due to the vagueness of canon, details of such abnormalities/occurences would always be determined after discussion with the other player.
  
  ** IN THE EVENT of Ronan being dropped from the game, I would first try to find an IC solution to keeping Matthew awake in the game (plot with other players to have their characters use powers to wake him up somehow/sever his connection to Ronan/etc. The magic in The Raven Cycle is, to be honest, a lot of made up nonsense so a solution could easily be the same.) If such a solution cannot be found within one week of Ronan's drop, I would have Matthew ported out for a power update and come back as ~a real boy~



• Daydreams: When Matthew wanders in his thoughts, he can manifest temporary "daydreams" around himself, including but not limited to: bubbles, colored lights, flowers, pleasant sounds or smells, etc. Physical objects have a physical presence and can be held or touched. All daydreams are temporary and will vanish over time, an hour at the longest. Matthew's control over the power is erratic and imprecise; for the most part it will happen by accident but occasionally he can nudge it in the direction he chooses.



• Memory Therapy: Matthew will, through physical touch, be able to help or cause a person to recall their own memories. Generally, these memories will be the best ones, the warmest, memories of a time when the other person felt particularly loved or safe or triumphant. If the other person is dealing with a specific difficulty or conflict, however, the memories that come up will be more tailored to that particular issue. Possible applications include but will not be limited to:
  
  • Concord: giving someone clarity on an inter-personal conflict by bringing up significant memories of the other person.
  
  
  • Peace: memories will steer a person towards a more internalized sense of peace, reminding them of a time they felt that way in the past.
  
  
  • Confidence: memories that remind a person of a time when they were on top of the world, experienced a success, etc, giving them a boost to tackle the current problem in front of them.
  
  
  • Catharsis: memories guaranteed to bring about a good healthy cry.
  
  Matthew will NOT be able to experience these memories himself, though he can sometimes catch an impression of the feelings brought up by them. The only exception to this rule is if the memory in question involves Matthew himself, in which case he will simultaneously recall his own side of it.
  
  While he is most likely to use this power therapeutically, it can also serve as a defensive power in a pinch, by way of distracting an attacker/sapping their aggression/reminding them of their "better nature" if possible/etc.