Owner	Pose
Adam Brashear	Adam Brashear is hard at work doing observations and experiments. Honestly he's just trying to keep Busy, distracting himself When he's not on the job as Blue Marvel he's down here in Kadesh Base doing experiments that come to mind no real goals or purpose other than keeping his mind busy in this deep solitude at the botton of the sea. Kadesh base is a secret labratory only known to Atlantis and only to easy tensions and assure them this base is not threat to them or their sovereignty.
Aspen Matthews	It's been a lot of new revelations and shocks. It's time for vacation. Aspen, obsessed as she has been with her job, has accrued a lot of accumulated leave, sniping a few days here and there for extended surf time in the right seasons, but not ever really any massive blocks. Which is why her assistant gaped at the leave form she'd filled out taking a whole month off. This was quite literally unheard of. "Are you OK, Dr. ... I mean, Aspen?" "Yes, quite. Just want to go on a bit of a trip." "Surfing?" "No, this is underwater." "Oh, scuba diving! Some reef or other?" "Something like that." And now Aspen finds herself more than 4 kilometres underwater, testing the limits of her newfound abilities. It was a long swim to the middle of nowhere in the Pacific, a swim in which she found herself moving faster and faster until naval destroyers would have a hard time keeping up, even at water skiing speed. Old joke. Not very good. And doesn't work if you don't have people on oars. Whatever. The half-suit isn't really much use at these depths. Any human, even with breathing equipment that could survive these depths at these pressures and temperatures, would be dead of hypothermia. Still waters suck heat. Aspen, however, finds herself comfortable as she navigates the invisible currents she can reach out and feel, somehow. Feel until ... What's this? She was expecting silt. Maybe rock outcroppings. Possibly smokers if near a volcanic vent. Not... Inside the station motion sensors sound the alert: something larger than the usual small creatures that typically float around these depths is approaching. Fast.
Adam Brashear	The security alerts shake Adam out of his trance like focus on the complex physics equations he was working through. "I swear if its another Squid I'm gonna smash the alarms this time." Adam gets up and rubs his eyes to look clearly he glances at the monitors and notices a human like shape. "someone from atlantis? but what would they want? I havent done anything to get their attention." He presses a button and talks into an intercom "hello may I help you?"
Aspen Matthews	And ... of COURSE it spotted her. Probably some kind of military base here, like the one she was revealed in. Maybe the same people even! Though ... no. This didn't look like the technology of the place she was. Aspen stops. "Uh..." Great start, Aspen. Bravo. "Hello?" SPECTACULAR! Greatest opening speech ever! "What place is this?" We're beyond sarcasm now and into the realm of contempt. "I wasn't expecting to find something here."
Adam Brashear	Adam's expression is now full of confusion. "Well I wasnt expecting to be found. this is Kadesh Base Its a research facility. Who are you and How did you find this olace if you didnt know it was here?"
Aspen Matthews	"I just kind of stumbled ... over it?" There's something absolutely surreal about floating in the water at crushing depths with over four kilometres of weight pushing upon her from all sides and having this conversation. "I'm ... just call me Aspen? I was taking a holiday off and ... swam ... this is sounding really stupid now that I say it out loud." There's a sound in the water that should be impossible. A sigh. "Let's pretend I didn't say something so stupid. I'm Dr. Aspen Matthews of the Oceanographic Institute of Metropolis University. I'm on something of a sabbatical. I came across this place by accident." Yeah. That explains EVERYTHING!
Adam Brashear	Adam shakes his head. "Would you like to come in and remove some of the awkwardness of this conversation?" Adam is usually extremely hesitant to let anyone in the base but this woman doesn't seem like a threat at least not one that Blue Marvel would be worried about. "Go tot he doors Dr. Matthews I'll let you in and drain the airlock so you can enter."
Aspen Matthews	Aspen swims up to the door, patiently waiting for the cycle to complete while mentally asking herself why she's doing it. The answer is obvious. Curiosity. What kind of place is this and why is it here? What kind of threat is it, given the nature of other places she's been in... When the water finally drains, subconsciously, without even thinking of what it might say, she causes it to completely drain from her body and clothing, leaving everything bone dry. "Do you have any kind of slippers or such?" she asks, looking down at her bare feet. "I wasn't expecting to be visiting so I left my crocs at home."
Adam Brashear	This would be the first time she would get to see the voice from the intercom. Adam Brashaer a tall muscluar black man, very distinguished looking seemingly mid-40's Brown eyes black hair with hints of graying arounf the edges. He's in in t-shirt and shorts. He too wasnt expecting visitors he hurriedly puts on a lab coat. Adam grab a pair of house shoes he's not wearing. "of course here thought they might be a little big for you" He hands them over and offer his hand "Dr Aspens Matthews, I am Dr Adam Brashaer nice to meet you and welcome to Kadesh Base the premiere center for the study of particle physics, specializing in anti matter among other things"
Aspen Matthews	Well that certainly causes ... an expression. A sort of mixed expression of surprise. And interest. "Just call me Aspen, please. Dr. Matthews makes me feel ancient." Aspen's eyes flick around the base, taking it in. "You're ... studying antimatter and particle physics. Here." It's not a question. Not by wording. Not by intonation. But let's face it, it's a question. Not that she's in any position to be asking questions about oddities given that she's this deep without protective gear more substantial than a half-sleeved/legged wetsuit. "Well, I'm very sorry then to intrude. I hope I didn't interrupt anything important. I was just passing by and spotted this place..." She felt it, really. You can't see in the water at these depths. It's why most life forms have no eyes or have vestigial blind ones. "...and got curious."
Adam Brashear	"Well then Aspen I guess you can call me Adam." He step aside and lets Aspen take full stock of the place. "Thisis a secret place where I have been studying working with anti matter for the past 60 or so years." Adam looks this admittly very attractive young woman over with mild surprise. "You didn't know it was here? I had assumed you were from atlantis. that would be one of the very few reasons you would be down here dressed like that and not show any ill effects of the pressure. I had to check in with the Kingdoms of atlantis when we put the lab here. just to make sure the neighbors knew we meant no harm and we would keep to ourselves and not disturb things."
Aspen Matthews	Sixty. Years. OK, sounds like this 'Adam' has a secret or ten of his own. Fair enough. "Atlantis?" Aspen decides to ask, not bothering to go on the 60 years thing. "Like the king Namor or Aquaman? No, I'm not from there." Beat. "I'm from San Diego, mostly." It shows on her face that she recognizes how stupid that sounds when she says it aloud. Still she bulldogs through. "Well, not from there. It's where I grew up." Very helpful. "I've been told I could live there, though, if I like, because... well..." She shrugs down at herself, passing a hand over her perfectly dry torso. "I mean, I'm practically one of them, right? But no, apparently I'm something different." EXTREMELY helpful. "Mostly I'm down here trying to figure stuff out, like what I am and stuff."
Adam Brashear	Adam chuckles "well I'm from chicago, Southside born and raised. " Adam looks her over again not in a crass way in a very analytical expression. "Like them but different you say?" He rubs his chin pondering things. "well its not my main focus of study but you're here and I am a scientist perhaps I could help if you want? If not thats fine I can offer you some coffee or a snack and we can chat"
Aspen Matthews	"I'm a scientist too," Aspen laughs, relaxing a bit in the odd situation. "Marine biology, in fact. I can study myself if worst comes to worst. Except ... no animal on Earth does this." She holds out an arm that is now made entirely out of water, prodtruding from out her wetsuit, attached to her body like her arm, looking the same shape and size as the arm that was there used to be. Just ... transparent and clearly liquid, with nothing inside, not even bone. The arm returns to flesh and blood. "I'm not human," she says quietly. "Which is a bit of a shock to find out about yourself in your twenties, don't you think? So I came out here to learn and experiment and think."
Adam Brashear	"now that is very interesting you can transform into water like a water elemental explains why you were able to swim doing here and probably why you were so dry when you walked in. Thank you for that by the way. "Adam says with smile his mind trying to figure out what she is exactly. "definitely not atlantean, at least not that I know of... hmm...in your twnties you said? thats when these abilities manifested? perhaps a late blooming mutant or and inhuman? Thpught I'm sure that would have been easy enought to verify through blood work." Adam gesture to a chair offering Aspen a seat. "well If we are sharing are talents I might as well let you know I'm the hero known as The Blue Marvel. and among my abilities is I have special vision I can see engery and the make up of things. I am my own electron microscope so to speak. if you like I can look you over and see what exactly is going on when you use your abilities."
Aspen Matthews	"Wait, you mean you can see under my clothes!?" Aspen asks, shock in her voice, eyes wide, clutching her arms over herself in a hugely-exaggerated modesty pose. Then she laughs, relaxing, eyes lit with mischief. "That's actually really a cool thing to have! I just ... move water around. And maybe other stuff. I'm still working this all out." Probably not the time to mention kick-starting a nuclear reactor with channeling raw energy of an unknown source. That's more a second date thing. Taking the offered seat, Aspen curls up in it like a cat ... or, more appropriately perhaps, an eel ... facing Adam. "I'm pretty sure I'm not a mutant. There's been clues about this all my life. Just ... never ... well, you know, someone kind of had to tell me of my 'birthright' as he called it."
Adam Brashear	Adam chuckles ?its not quite like I can see under your clothes. Though I can do that too.? He winks at her. ?It?s more like I can see your atoms. And the waves your energy puts out.? Adam?s eyes glow as he looks her over. ?I don?t know about any birthrights I can try to give some idea of what you are based on what you?re made of?
Aspen Matthews	"Well, I can give you some things to help you know what you're looking for. I have more alveoli in my lungs than a human. My bones make more platelets. Together this means that even without switching into water I can hold my breath for longer and swim farther underwater. My bones are also more flexible which lets me swim faster." She snorts derisively. "That's what got my Olympic gold, and my world record taken away. They were certain I'd performed erythrocythemia when that's my normal metabolism at work." Her voice returns to normal and the little pall of shadow that passed over her face vanished into her blander, more pleasant aspect. "But that's OK. It let me focus instead on my scholastics and I still worked with and lived with the sea. Something I've loved for as far back as I can remember." Of course that's only as far back as 2004... "But now I need to find out more."
Adam Brashear	"Enlarged spleen as well helps release more oxygen into your system while holding your breath. Something similar observed in the Bajau people in southeast asia. They can hold their breath for up to twenty minutes at a time while diving." Adam says scanning her. "I will try to help as best I can. I'm not a biologist but I can try." Adam is looking deeper into her now
Aspen Matthews	Inside Aspen it's clear pretty quickly that she's not human. Not even altered human. Perhaps humans and whatever she is share a common ancestor, hence bipedal form, bilateral symmetry, etc. But her bones are chemically different from human bones. Her blood, while superficially similar to all iron-based life forms, runs through veins that open wider to deliver more oxygen, while carrying more platelets into more alveoli exactly as she said. Her musculature is more efficient as well, giving her potentially greater strength for the same exertion, though this doesn't appear to be the case currently. What is different, however, is that some form of energy aura, seemingly blue in shade, as Adam's mental mapping would place it, infuses everything, seeming to moderate and control every chemical and electrical reaction in her body, as if the body is merely a puppet. And, right at the very edges, as if lurking or gathering strength, is another aura, this mapping in Adam's mind to black, which doesn't seem to participate in anything as an actor, but seems instead to observe everything. While Adam watches, Aspen turns to water, the result of an orgy of that blue energy reorganizing and shuffling matter around until it's what is wanted. And all the while the black lurks, observing, watching, while the blue switches her back.
Adam Brashear	Adam's eyes widen "well you're not human, at least not in the any modernmodern sense. your bones seem half between nomal bones and the catilage of sharks. but your energy. I have never seen anything like this." Adam hurriedly jotes down notes "its like you have sources of power one this blue energy that is acting like a nervous system, it seems to have overriden your own and its powering you. are you in control of it? but even more curious there is something else there lying underneath that it's black its like a symbiote almost but its pure energy not a physical parasyte. i don't even know it it is a parasyte but it seems to be almost dormant" Adam stops peaking around her molecular structure and looks at her with normal sight. "I don't know what you are possible a vessel for magic of some discription? I know I'm a scientist but I know there is magic and power beyond what we can currently account for"
Aspen Matthews	"I ... the people I met called us 'The Blue' so that's probably the energy you saw. And I think I'm pretty certain I'm in control of it." She demonstrates by turning her hands, and only her hands, into water and having water fountain from one to the other and back, this time putting into a three-coil spiral on the return journey. Her hands return to normal. "It's how I do that. I think. I don't know about this other thing. Killian ... he's ... well, he's the one who told me about me being me ... said that there was something special about me. That might be the other one you saw." Her eyes turn down to the floor, troubled, but she says nothing further on that line. "I don't think it's magic, though. It's a part of all of us to some extent or another. I have more than most, but everybody among us has some."
Adam Brashear	"not to be cliche but an ominous black energy lying dormant inside you seems worrisome to me. but then again I don't anything about this its out of my depth." Adam puts a hand on Aspen's shoulder. "Hey whatever you are, you can make the most of it. Don't be troubled by who you are. Don't let others and their preconceived notions of who you are get to you. Be strong, be proud, and let no one use your identity you specialness against you." Adam says speaking from experience. Remembering becoming who he is. Remembering being told to retire from being a hero because america wasnt ready for a black superhero. Remembering watching the struggle for civil rights from sidelines.
Aspen Matthews	"Well," Aspen says wryly, "I'm already making the most of it. I just shattered every free-diving record in perpetuity." She winks at Adam, chuckling. "Of course that's because of the blood-doping, right?" She rubs her face with one hand, shaking her head afterward. "It was a Hell of a swim, but I'm trying to learn about myself and ... my former source of information wasn't trustworthy so I'm kind of left to my own devices for now. So muddling along as best I can." Her face goes back to its impish norm. "I did learn I can surf like the Devil himself, though!" she says proudly. "I don't even need, you know, actual surf anymore. Nor a board. I can make the surf and I can use the water as my board. It's great fun!"
Adam Brashear	"I wish I could have fun using my powers like that. But my situation is such that if i'm ever not in absolute control things can go very wrong." Adam jokes. "Well if you don't have someone to tell you who and what you are. then that's perfect. Because now you can decide that for yourself. The blue The Black they can be what you want them to be. You can be who you want to be Aspen. just remember to use these abilities responsibily. And maybe teach me how to surf" Adam smirks at his own humor.
Aspen Matthews	"I'm not going to make the mistake of letting someone else define me again," Aspen says, voice strong, stern, confident. "I did that when I first had my ... heritage ... revealed. Now I learn on my terms, not at someone else's bidding." Something behind those words. A story. Possibly a tragedy. "So ... uh ... if it's not too personal ... uh ... why are you down here and not..." Her finger points up. "I mean ... I'm ... probably going to wind up here in the ocean myself, but ... that's because, you know, I *am*. The ocean, I mean. Why are you down here?"
Adam Brashear	Adam takes a seat and sighs rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I'm down here to keep busy. To do something when I'm not needed as Blue Marvel.IT's been a rough while for me. I lost my best friend, I found out my wife was a secret agent who was with me to on and influence me and then she died, and my kids want nothing to do with me. all pretty much the same time. It's a lot and I'm bitter and angry and sad. and I can't be up there a lot. so I spend time here alone. Doing busy work, research, tinkering, observing... sigh, Anything."
Aspen Matthews	Whatever it was Aspen was expecting, it appears that what Adam said was not it. Her face goes blank as if reflecting a mind shutting down and restarting. "I'm sorry," she finally says, after swallowing heavily. "I didn't mean to ... dredge stuff up like that. It was a dumb question, none of my business, and I wish I hadn't asked it." A short period of silence ensues. "If you need someone to talk to when you're up there ... uh ... I have seafront property in Metropolis." She makes a face. "Of course it would be seafront, wouldn't it? I share a rental, though. I'm not independently wealthy. My roomie's a chatterbox, so ... if people like that bug you you'd probably have to wait until she's out before dropping by, but if not, she's good people."
Adam Brashear	Adam nods and gives a polite smile. "it's ok I guess i sort of need to get this stuff out. wallowing down here isnt really helping. but I hide for the world not for me. I am too powerful to lose myself in these emotions. I could be a danger" "I have place up there. there is a portal that teleports me to an apartment in Brooklyn but I don't stay there unless i have to. but I would be happy to visit you if you want me to." Adam looks down at himself in his bed clothes and lab coat. "And I promise I clean up well"
Aspen Matthews	Brooklyn?! Ew! It's not spoken, but the wrinkled nose briefly gives the game up. Brooklyn's not near the sea. Why would anybody want to live THERE!? Aspen may have a problem. "Well, if you're serious about wanting to learn surfing, Brooklyn isn't going to cut it!" she says brightly. "So yes, if you ever want to drop by and hang out, hit the waves, fall into the water a thousand times until you feel like you got trapped in a washing machine, and then suddenly, one day, magically find yourself standing on a board sliding over the water, you'll be welcome. It'll be just like living down here only without the pressure and the solitude." She pauses a moment. "And ... uh ... you may have a few people laughing at you at first. But it's good-natured laughter. We've all been there at the start before." Except for those born to the sea. But she won't bother muddying the message with that, now, will she.
Adam Brashear	"travel isnt really an issue for me. and I'm an old fashioned guy So I got a fancy place in gentrified brooklyn to try to keep the old neighborhood alive in a small way. I can't get to the way about easily as you can" he says with a chuckle and a shake of his head. It occurs to him that she might not be aware that he can fly. She might not actually know of Blue Marvel. At the thought of learning to surf "Falling off a surf board is more enjoyable than falling off a bike or skates. splashing about is certain more fun than hitting pavement so I don't see an issue"
Aspen Matthews	"OK, then," Aspen says with a grin. And...cringe time...an impulsive hug delivered from curled-up in the chair to stepping rapidly across to Adam where he's seated. "Let's call it a penciled-in date. Some time this century you drop on by and I teach you to surf. In the mean time, I'm going to see if I can't get right to the bottom of the Marianis before taking off back for home. I've got some specimens to observe in their natural habitat instead of under a microscope." She peers at the door controls as she approaches them, tilting her head. "Looks pretty standard, but ... since I don't want to be drowning your habitat, why don't I let you do the honours?"
Adam Brashear	Adam is surprised by the hug but accepts it and hugs back. "It's a date... eventually. I'll drop by." Adam gets up and moves to the door controls. "before you go may I have some contact info? to plan this eventual date?" adam presses some buttons and the dry door opens. Once she enters that air lock the dry door will close and the wet door will open allowing Aspen to swim away.
Aspen Matthews	"Oh, yeah, sure. Uh ... no business cards down here." She laughs infectiously at the Captain Obvious moment. "But I'm DocFroggy on Twitter. Just DM me and when I get back I'll send you the rest of the contact info." Once the door opens, she waves and swims off into the water. Sensors show her moving at rates a human should not be able to swim.