Owner	Pose
Caleb Dykstra	A date. An actual, honest to god, date. Sheila couldn't believe when she heard her brother was going on a date. She'd been asking questions all day, about who the date was, and all Caleb said was that she was called 'Megan', and that she was from a 'faraway land'. And she though like, chinese... She was off by a few miles, though. But, if Caleb had said that his date was actually Miss Martian, with Sheila being a superhero fangirl, the date might've had to be postponed, because she would've fainted. So, she stayed in Happy Harbor, unaware - at least for now. Having decided on the Rise N Grind for first impressions, he was now glancing out the window, and looking at the tablet he had with him for some subject reading while he waited for his date to arrive...
M'gann M'orzz	Arriving by bioship has it's advantages. Especially the part where it has active camoflage and allows her to utilize her own invisibility to more easily reach places. Floating down from the invisible ship, while invisible, she adjusts her appearance to her Megan Morse front, adjusts her clothing to something weather and fashion appropriate, then steps out of the alley to join the hustle on the sidewalk. He'll get to see vaguely familiar auburn hair attached to a face that may also be vaguely familiar. Or more familiar, depending on how up he is on older teen sitcoms. She enters the Rise & Grind, blinking a bit at the atmosphere, the outfits. Shaking her head slightly, Megan will look around until she spots Caleb. Offering a bright smile and wave, Megan heads over towards him, "Caleb! Hi! Sorry if I'm late, my Econ class ran a little long. I hope you haven't been waiting long!"
Caleb Dykstra	At the sight of M'gann, Caleb smiles brightly and puts his tablet away on a bag resting by his side, "Megan! Glad you could make it!" He shakes his head, "Nah, no problem. Gave me a chance to catch up on some school projects I'm doing." He gestures for a seat at the table, "Grab yourself a seat. What would you like?"
M'gann M'orzz	Joining him at the table, Megan sets her bag down and grins at him, "I hear you there. Any chance I can take to work on essays or reports..." Tucking a lock of hair behind one ear, she smiles softly, "So, I guess... tell me a little about yourself? You appreciate a good pun, but what else should I know?" Mention of ordering has her laughing at herself and thunking her forehead lightly with the heel of her hand, "Hello Megan! Of course. Uhm... well, since it's starting to climb out of winter, maybe I'll get a cup of cocoa before it's phased out with the rest of the seasonal drinks."
Caleb Dykstra	"Oh, puns...", Caleb comments, "I have a pun jar at home. Everytime there's one, you contribute." He grins, "And in my book, the bigger the pun, the more you have to contribute. The ones from the other day...?" He holds out two fingers. "This one's Earth, this other one's Mars. Those puns...?" He holds out his hands wide, leaving the two finger really small by comparison, "Huge." Shrugs, "Payable only with a date." "Well, I study at Happy Harbor High School, just like my sister does. I hope I'll be joining the Community College without aging out of high school. I was delayed a few years." He waves the waitress, makes the order, "A cocoa and a cap...", but reconsiders, "No, two cocoas, please." Order made, she goes to tend to the order. "Hmmm... 'Hello, Megan!'... Where have I heard that before?"
M'gann M'orzz	Laughing at the story, Megan offers up a teasing grin, "I've learned from the best. So I'm afraid the puns are going to keep on coming. Though the level of them will surely fluctuate. You'll have to let me know the costs." She cants her head to one side, considering, "Hmmmmmm, maybe I can save up what I owe until it's enough to cost another date?" Nodding, Megan smiles, "I graduated from Happy Harbor a few years ago. But family responsibilities kept me from starting college until this year. I'm enrolled at Metropolis U. Linguistics and International Relations, with a minor in Business." She lifts a shrug and chuckles, "I've been accused of being ambitious." Pausing while he orders, she adds right at the end, "Extra whipped cream on both, please!" Looking back to Caleb, Megan grins, "It was an old sitcom from like.. twenty, thirty years ago. It only had the one season, but I loved it. The main star, Marie Logan, inspired my.. look." She motions to her face and form, "The character was Megan Wheeler, she was a popular high school girl, a cheerleader.. but she could also be a little clutzy or forgetful. Her catchphrase was the name of the show. 'Hello, Megan!' It's become.. well, sort of my catchphrase now."
Caleb Dykstra	Caleb lets out a whistle of surprise. "A diplomat and a business entrepreneur in the making. I can see those doors being opened easily for you. Planning on being the diplomat for any coming species visiting the good ol' blue marble?" "Me, I'm taking mine into mechanics and engineering, and if I forget any it's because I'm on a bad day. I've done...", he prepares to enumerate, but for several seconds, it's like he's blanking, "I mean, I've crafted stuff, I designed, I restored, I reverse-engineered... And I don't even have a diploma, yet." He adds, "What you saw me using against that C3PO knock-off the other day? My craft, the lot of it. Easier to go to a junkyard and buy for buck and a half and then craft stuff at your own leisure, than buy wholesale on Walmart and lose two thousand bucks." In regards to her catchphrase, he says, "So, the show resonated with you. It was something alien to you, and you identified more with it..." Insight at work, but he cuts it off before it gets wierd. "You're chronologically older, and more long-lived by extension. You just said twenty, thirty years ago... I barely remember it though reruns."
M'gann M'orzz	"Actually... that would be for M'gann. Megan.. has a little bit different of plans. Or.. did. I'm not super sure if it will end up the same way now," Megan lifts a small shrug and offers a faint smile. Clearing her throat, she offers a warmer smile towards him and chuckles, "Remind me to show you my vehicle sometime." Watching him for a long moment, she murmurs, "If there's something that's.. blocking.. you. I might be able to help." "It.. gave me hope. My early years were.. lonely. Isolated. Megan was.. everything I wanted, everything I wanted to be." She shrugs lightly and offers a wry smile, "I found out pretty quickly that real life didn't work like a sitcom, but the hope, the.. comfort.. I gained from it is still there." Pausing, Megan chuckles, "Megan is about 20 years old. M'gann is 56. We will both have a birthday on July 7th."
Caleb Dykstra	"That's the thing with sitcoms - they relay a message, idealized through the medium." He smirks, "If my life were a show, I think it'd hit the dark drama real fast." He shrugs, "Hashtag GothamLife, if you get my meaning." On the subject of vehicle, "Oh, my car is a 1970 Dodge Challenger. What's yours?" He headtilts, "And what do you mean by helping me with what's blocking me?"
M'gann M'orzz	Megan grows quiet for a moment, then glances down at her hands, "There are worse places to live than Gotham. I've been there, I actually used to stay there myself. I still have friends there. It's not great, but.. there are worse places." She offers a quick smile. Clearing her throat, Megan murmurs softly, "My vehicle is whatever I need her to be. She's not just a vehicle, after all. She's a friend. I'll introduce you after the cocoa."
Caleb Dykstra	"I guess it depends on what you call life", Caleb says. "If you fall under the control of a mob boss who uses you and exploits you for whatever he deems useful, I think the story will be a little bit different." He smiles as the cocoas arrive, and thanks the waitress. Then resuming, "Fortunately, I got out just in time. My performance record was at an all-time low, and it didn't help that a guy from SHIELD showed up in the middle of an operation, a guy that had previously been to a shop I had back then." He shakes his head, "I mean, that meant life /over/. Me and mine, we just left that same night." He blinks when he hears about Megan's 'vehicle/friend'. Several times, "Okay... This mind is officially intrigued!"
M'gann M'orzz	"...I grew up in a bunker of sorts, one that was buried and forgotten for millenia, until the AI caretaker finally managed to 'wake up'. Because it had lasted much longer than it was intended, the power reserves were low. There were millions of my brothers and sisters in cryostasis.. but the Caretaker could only growth and hatch one of us. I was chosen. I grew up alone, surrounded by the frozen embryos of my family, the only remnants that I knew of. My care, training, and education were all handled by the Caretaker AI.. and by the transmissions that reached us from Earth." Megan clears her throat and looks to Caleb with a bleak smile, "I've been working with my Uncle, who thought he was the last of our kind, to try and find the means to recharge the power banks, so the rest of what's left of our people don't die out completely." Smiling up at the waitress, she watches the woman depart before turning back to her cocoa, lifting the mug to offer it in toast against his. "I'm glad that you were able to get out. That was definitely a terrible situation. And it's horrible that they were able to put you in that position." Laughing softly, she sips on her cocoa, "Like I said, I'll introduce you."
Caleb Dykstra	"Not gonna lie, your situation wasn't any better", he says after listening. "And considering what I've read about Mars, the pictures I saw..." He can't find the words, really. In his mind, he's painting a bleak picture of an alien child living in the darkness, with only slivers of light to guide her path as she stumbles in the dark. "...Shit", he exhales. He grabs his cocoa, and raises for a toast. "Not much of a latin guy, but here's a sentence I commited to memory recently: ad superstites per aspera... To surviving through hardships."
M'gann M'orzz	"It was... not fun. Very lonely." Megan clears her throat and offers a quick smile, "Well, the Martians were never on the surface of the planet. We would go up occasionally if needed, but we were largely subterranean. Which is also why you don't see any structures on the surface, or even remains of them." She watches him for a moment, then smiles softly, "An excellent motto. And an excellent toast." Lifting her mug for the toast, she repeats, "Ad superstites per aspera."
Caleb Dykstra	Caleb drinks the cocoa, and closes his eyes as the warm liquid warms his troat and chest. "But now, I have to ask... Do you have any pictures or mementos of how Mars used to be in the distant past?" He clarifies, "I mean, there was once water, right? So, there must've been fertile landscapes, too..."
M'gann M'orzz	Shaking her head, Megan sends him a funny look, "Mars has been that way for a very, very, very long time. And we don't have anything like cameras. I don't think you quite understand.." She sips from her cocoa and glances down into the cup, then back to Caleb, "My people didn't live on the surface. It was inhospitable to life. Any life. All life. Water was largely subterranean."
Caleb Dykstra	Caleb finds himself considering this information, "So, an isolated cave ecossystem...?" He considers, he too sipping the cocoa, "Like if Europan life forms have an ocean sheet...?" He adds, "And, is it possible that any survivors could still remain dormant on the planet?"
M'gann M'orzz	M'gann clears her throat and shakes her head with a murmured, "The Ark that birthed and raised me is.. gone. Along with all the other embryos. It's just myself and my uncle now." She sips on her cocoa and holds the mug in both hands. "I spent the last few years trying to save it, but there just wasn't an equable power source that was both viable and compatible with such ancient technology." Wetting her lips lightly, she murmurs, "We're the last of the race."
Caleb Dykstra	"Sorry to hear that, M'gann", he says, trying to picture an entire race going extinct. One less voice in the Universe. He aims for a more positive note. "But maybe you can make a new home and carry on here", he smiles, "And hopefully, provide the people in the right places with some insight on what shouldn't be done." He nods in the University's direction, "Heck, you're in the right place to start, right?"
M'gann M'orzz	"Thanks. It wasn't easy to accept. But we're doing alright," M'gann offers a quick, small smile before sipping on her cocoa to busy herself for a moment. She chuckles lightly, "I already have. That was the whole purpose for my coming here. I'm good, but I'm not 'restart an entire race' good. I was hoping to assist my uncle, but it was just too much time. No, I keep an apartment in Metropolis, and my alter ego attends college at Metro U." SHe glances down into her mug briefly, then murmurs, "Don't start a worldwide civil war over skin color. That's the thing to not be done. That's what killed my people."
Caleb Dykstra	"Racism", Caleb takes that sentence with skepticism. "That is..." He sighs, "...Sorry, I honestly didn't see that one coming. I would think that a more advanced species would have managed to work out their differences in the interests of mutual survival, especially if the planet was as inhospitable as you'd describe." He takes a long sip of his cocoa, mulling this over. "We're not angels, of course. I mean, we do have conflicts here and there, but we're learning - hopefully." He pauses, "But it's harder if you're a mutant, a person who's born with abilities. There's been some shaky ground, but luckily, it hasn't come to full-scale blows." He smiles, with a slight subject change, "I actually met the Queen of Genosha, and her security aide, Mystique - who like you, is a shapeshifter."
M'gann M'orzz	"Not racism. We were all the same race. There were two 'colors' of Martian.. Green and White. Greens were typically peace-loving, wanting to share and explore and discover and meet. Whites were... warlike, ruthless, wanting to subjugate or kill. It lead to a way. But we were all born in the same place, at least until the Whites were finally run off out of the system. But the damage was done, the Green Martians were all but gone." M'gann shakes her head and offers, "But this also happened millenia ago. Before modern man even existed." "The tensions that run through the US, while troubling, are unlikely to spark a world war. Many countries are more open and accepting of those with powers and abilities, mutant or otherwise. Thankfully." She lifts both brows and gives a small nod, "That must have been fun. I'd be curious to know how deep her shapeshifting goes. Is she limited to humanoid forms? Does it go to a molecular level to the point she can fake a DNA test?"
Caleb Dykstra	"Well, you did say 'skin color', at first", Caleb remarks. "So, ideologies. People slaughtering each other over core beliefs." He sips his cocoa, "Can't say we haven't had a lot of that around these parts. Religion, for us..." He shrugs, "Let's just say don't get me started, and that I prefer atheism." He remarks, "Clearer perspective, you know? No subscription to newsletters on how eternal is the love sent from above. If there was any, there wouldn't have been half the troubles we've had until now." It sounds a little personal, that last phrase, "Ultimately, you can only rely on yourself. If you cease to believe... You're as good as dead." "As for Mystique, hell if I know. But I've seen her natural form", he ponders if the word he says is right before continuing, "and I have to say it's pretty alien by itself." He tries to compare, "Like, in your green persona, you look... less alien." He frowns, "And I have no idea if the words I'm saying are the right ones." Heaven help him.
M'gann M'orzz	M'gann blinks at him, "Well, yes. Because race is not your the color of your skin. I have seen Asian people that are lighter than Caucasians, and Hispanic people darker than African Americans. You skin color is just that. In humans, literally the only difference for the skin tones is geographic location derived evolution. Also, calling a race 'African American' is incorrect. If a man shows up from Kenya, do you make him say that he's African American when he's never been to America until now?" She shakes her head, "Race needs to be separated from skin color." "Simplistically... yes. It's never quite that simple. But that's close enough." M'gann gives a nod, "I know. I've done extensive research on the last century of Earth's history. It helps me to seem more... human." She offers a wry grin, "The simple fact that I need an alter ego that appears human says much for where this country is at." Lifting a brow at Caleb, M'gann looks at him, "That's a very cynical outlook for someone so young. I depend on plenty of other people, and I'm much older than you. I depend on my uncle, on my teammates, on my friends. If I couldn't rely on them, why bother with any of it?" M'gann chuckles softly and gives a nod, "That's because I purposely make even my 'alien' form look more human. If I went with my natural form, people would shriek and run and try to kill me or capture me just based on the 'monstrous' appearance."
Caleb Dykstra	Caleb listens, and smiles; a slight nod rises to his head's posture. "That's called 'political correctness'", he says. "African-American, a word coined to encompass all the black people whose forefathers came - or, let's not forget, were dragged in chains - to America. It's basically there so you don't use the n-word", he makes the quotation mark. He shakes his head, "But no, a Kenyan wouldn't fit the description, but how would anyone know?" He shakes his head, "It's not an exact science, I agree." "Maybe I don't agree with your reason why you would need to appear human, at least in regards to your green form", he says. "I mean, notoriety is an immediate factor. You're a good person, M'gann, but you're also a super-hero - a high-profile one, I might add -, and if we were on our date with you as green skin, there would likely be cameras flashing for headline covers, and maybe fans wanting selfies." He shrugs, "And at some point, I'd feel like a third wheeler, and bolt." "I can't blame you wanting to appear more human", he says. "Humans feel more comfortable around someone that look like them from the get go; it's an instinctive, primal reaction. One which, if bigotry, ignorance, and downright stupidity fuels it, makes for one botched first contact." He shrugs, "But hey, one of my first experiences with someone who looked different was this shark girl. When she smelled me and said I smelled nice, I was like, 'what the hell?', you know?" He kids, "All you needed was the 'Jaws' musical score, and you'd get the idea of how I felt." He pauses for a moment, "But she turned out to be alright, in the end." "M'gann, being buried under the rubble of your house with your pregnant mother, and witnessing her die shortly after giving birth to your sister while no help is in sight, it puts things in perspective. Doesn't help that the following year, a mega-invasion happens and you have to escape underground, killing in the process one of the invaders who was aiming their weapon at a father and child - my family." His eyes glint, "Those alien races...?" He shakes his head. "I prefer not to say what fate I'd rather them have." He adds, "Become an economical statistic in Gotham, you become at the mercy of the engorged parasites of the system, and you're to do everything they tell you to - or else." He lets that sink in, "There's a reason I don't go to Gotham anymore." He takes a deep breath, "What I'm trying to say here, is that monsters are defined by their actions, not their looks." More of a pause, "But I also don't like to depend on other people, because sooner or later, something will happen, and the people that care won't be around. So I always try to be prepared for when that day comes." He points backwards, "And going back far enough, it's not like it hasn't been a winning strategy."
M'gann M'orzz	"A word made up by other people, to assuage their guilt for use of a term the people it was applied to found offensive. Seems a poor compromise. Especially given that when race comes up, there is no option for a non-African American who lives in America, but also happens to be dark-skinned." M'gann lifts a small shrug and smiles at him, "And they would not know, because nobody is asking. They are *assuming*. They are assuming that anyone who has dark skin is automatically an African American, without ever asking if that's true." M'gann looks at him, lifting a brow as he continues, then chuckling softly, "Nobody would *recognize* me as M'gann if I appeared as my true self. There wouldn't be any 'oh, no, that's just Miss Martian'. Because I wouldn't look anything like Miss Martian looks." Leaning forward, looking at Caleb, she smiles, "Being in my 'hero' persona is a whole lot different than being who I am. What I naturally look like. You can't say whether you would or wouldn't, because you don't know." Shaking her head once more, she smiles faintly, "Really. It's.. very much different. But again, it's not something that comes with easy explanation. Just please.. trust me, there's a very large difference. I chose the forms I chose for a reason." Pulling back, she looks into her mug, almost empty, then back to Caleb, "You say that, but history has shown differently. Individuals can be intelligent and empathetic. People, in a crowd, are prone to blind and panicky actions, they will react without thinking, and become vicious much quicker. I would love to believe that people would be accepting... but I know better."
Caleb Dykstra	Caleb listens, nodding every now and then. So now, a complemanting quip follows to break the mood out of what Caleb feels starts to be a very personal subject for M'gann, "Well, then I guess all I can say is that, of all the forms you could choose, that one is definetely an eye-turner?" Yeah, he's trying to make her blush. And he waits for the reaction, sipping his cocoa. Holding back the grin...
M'gann M'orzz	"Oh yeah? Hey, thanks, I-.." It took that long for her brain to catch up with the quip. Her cheeks flush with color and she glances down at the table, a small but pleased smile on her lips. She doesn't do what she would normally do, which is to launch into an explanation of why she chose the face and form she did. Instead, she just accepts the compliment with that pretty blush and hurriedly sips from her cocoa. "Thank you."
Caleb Dykstra	Caleb finishes the last of his cocoa, and looks at the the glass. "You know, I could use a refill... How about you?"
M'gann M'orzz	M'gann glances down at her mug, then back to Caleb with a smile, "Please. And maybe when you get back, we can try to find a less... heavy.. subject? Music? Movies? I'll even try to talk sports, if that's something you're into." There's a quick wink and she slides her mug across to him.