Who We Are

Summary:
August 12 2014: Rowan and Aspen Matthews get a bit of quiet time after a hectic couple of days. Just so happens they choose the same spot to have it.

Deep Marine Discovery Observation Deck

A large observation platform built into the largest 'bubble' in Deep Marine Discovery labs


Characters

NPCs

  • None

Mood Music:
[* None]


There were - fortunately - no deaths involved in Rowans abrupt crash into Deep Marine Discovery and the damage he caused to the lab itself has since been repaired. One cannot dilly-dally in these things this deep underwater, after all. In any case it's a good thing observation deck made it through intact because that's where Rowan is right now. His trip to medical had been… eventful, but uninformative for both him and the doctors. He'd given consent for the lab techs to run blood work and a number of other tests on him. They treated his burns as best they could and bandaged the cuts he had, but other than that there wasn't much to do. Well, other ask he took some kind of drug. 'Doping' he thinks they called it. Weird surfacer slang. Eventually, when he stared hard enough, that particular line of questioning stopped.

The labwork, unknown to him, had really raised all kinds of questions since he was not only the member of a genetically distinct race, but also apparently had some sort of inactive secondary code on his genes. How that's even possible is a question of much debate among the med staff and medically inclined researchers. Rowan himself finally just wanted to be alone. The entire experience of being here is proving to be unsettling and even the (distant) presence of Mera proved eventually unfamiliar enough that the soldier felt utterly alone.

*

While Aspen's background here at DMD is as a marine biologist, her specialty is in propulsion systems. But that doesn't mean that she doesn't understand biology and, given the isolated nature of DMD, when Rowan's blood work came back with a lot of similarities to Aspen's, well, she found out about it. That just added to the mystery of their visitor, given that he seemed to know her. No one had ever looked into Aspen's biology very seriously, the elevated oxygen levels in her blood dismissed as blood doping the one time back when she was fifteen that lost her the gold medal at the Olympics but with this new information… Suddenly too many of the DMD biologists had an interest in her and 'just one more test!'. She too has found herself looking for some quiet.

Coming up on the observation deck, she spots Rowan from behind. It's hard not to recognize him, especially as he doesn't have the ubiquitous lab coat most of the staff wears, or the uniform of security. She pauses, watching him more than the view for a long moment.

*

For a long, long moment Rowan is just staring out into the ocean. It's pretty darn dark down this deep, so it's anyone's guess what - if anything - he sees. Then he seems to realize he's not as alone as he was when he began and half turns to see if one of the surfacers has come to chase him away from their work or haul him back to the med lab so he can glare at them more. When he sees Aspen it's clear that she's not quite who he was expecting.

"Aspen…" He says quietly. His weapons still have not been returned to him - who can blame the surfacers - but he hasn't yet felt the need for them.

After a moment he steps aside with a small gesture to make room for her.

*

There's that small start when he calls her by name again. More because of that note of recognition than the name itself. She's still for a moment, watching him as he gestures, and then finally joins him on the observation deck. Her hands curl over the rail, giving her something to hold onto. Only then does she turn to look at him, instead of the deep blue all around them. "Who are you?" She hasn't had much actual contact with him, really just that moment of him dropping in when she was woken up.

*

Rowan had returned to looking out into the sea again and it takes a moment before he half turns to face Aspen. "My name is Rowan. I'm a soldier of the Blue." Again, his voice is quiet. Just loud enough to be heard. He'd spoken in much the same tone of voice in the medbay as well, quite a contrast to his somewhat dramatic entrance.

He isn't particularly expecting Aspen to recognize him. The name is known yes, it's hard to ignore the name of a soldier who can make such dramatic alterations to himself, but his face is somewhat less well known and even though he's met Aspen several times, it was never in any context that he'd expect her to remember it. In fact… come to think of it he can't remember them all himself.

He's got questions for her too frankly, but people have been acting oddly around here, so he waits on her reaction to judge if it's wise to ask.

*

Aspen Matthews's brow furrows faintly, head tilting to the side a little. It causes some of her hair to fall forward and it's brushed back with an absent, habitual motion. "Of the who?"

That he knows her isn't too much of a surprise. It's not common, but some people still recognize her, though in a less than flattering light from the Olympics. More from the scandal than her record-breaking performance.

*

The sigh that follows from Rowan is not one of disappointment in 'wasted potential.' It's really more one of 'of course you don't know that.'

"The Blue." He repeats. "I'm Blue. And so are you. We've met a few times though I doubt you remember me." Aspen is, after all, the daughter of… er… one of the Councilors and a very high ranking water worker. Much higher ranking than a line soldier, to be sure. Of course, the way things have been going so far she'll deny being Blue, or something. Much as Mera denied there was a war.

*

Aspen Matthews shakes her head. "I'm afraid I've never heard of any… Blue. Is it a nation? Or a race?" She's aware that there are underwater humanoids, which the media has dubbed 'Atlanteans!' but there's no real knowledge of anything beyond that on the surface so far.

She doesn't deny it, because she doesn't entirely know what it means. It belatedly occurs to her that perhaps better introductions are in order. "I know you seem to know me, but…" She offers a hand out. "I'm Aspen Matthews. I'm one of the scientists here at DMD." Then, realizing he might not know the ackronymn, she elaborates, "Deep Marine Discovery."

*

The extra name is… um… quaint? Surfacers do that, but when she claims to not know the Blue, Rowans brow furrows. What is going on here? Mera denies there's a war, Aspen denies knowing her own people and there's a 'research' lab near the site of his last operation? He's starting to wonder if he got captured… or killed.

"You… um…" The sheer impossibility of this makes Rowan's head spin but he remembers to shake her hand. "Our people live in the Shining Sea, the ones the surfacers call the Caribbean. There were even some settlements further away, in other oceans. Well, before the war." He goes into explanation mode as he desperately tries to figure out why Aspen would be using surnames like sufacers do.

"Why… why are you here, Aspen?"

*

Aspen Matthews doesn't miss the 'our' people. He definitely has it stuck in his head that share this in common. Given the similarities that the biologists have noted between their bloodwork and the fact she should have been dead for being face-down in the water for so long…

"I'm afraid I don't know anything about the… the Blue. We're only just really learning that there are people that live in the ocean." She tries to give him an encouraging smile. "But I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with them. You're the first I've met. Or… even seen, really. In person. I've seen the lab results though. We definitely have a lot in common, it seems."

*

First Blue she's met? That… cannot be true. He'd be inclined not to believe it, really, but evidence is starting to pile up. The endless medical prodding, the confusion and shock of the surfacers, Queen Mera's… odd disposition. Even Arthur's face.

Something is not as he left it. He's not sure what, or how, but the only alternative is to believe that all these people are lying to him for some sinister reason and Rowan simply isn't that paranoid.

"I… I see…" This does put the question of how he knows Aspen in a bit of an awkward light though. "I'm… probably not the best representative…" Being a bit of a genetic defect, as he is.

The bit about the lab results has him thinking. If they have a lot in common… "What did the results show?"

*

That has Aspen digging for her tablet in her labcoat, pulling it out so she can bring up some of the results that have come up so far with touches and flicks of her fingers. "Well, the elevated oxygen levels, to start with. But also some odd markers…" She starts to devolve into a bit of biologist technojargon. "Now some of the team is wanting to do a full genetic workup…" That has a bit of a worried tone to it. It might be exciting were it someone other than her that is the apparent guineapig. She gives him a sympathetic look. "You might want to keep hiding." She admits. "They're going to try to talk you into submitting to all kinds of tests." Her manner is more teasing than ominous. She isn't thinking the sci-fi horror kinds of tests, more a lot of poking and prodding.

*

The soldier looks resigned. The military's relationship to the medical services that he remembers - or at least, the bit of it he remembers - is rather like this. They really must have never seen a Blue before or this wouldn't be in the least interesting.

Well, okay, he might be for other reasons but that's neither here nor there.

"Do the tests involve more prattling at me about 'blood doping', whatever in the sea that is?"

Truth is, he's kind of tempted to let them try. If they were to decide to do a full genetic workup on him, the results would almost certainly be… very entertaining from an outside point of view.

"I'll need to… try to get in touch with my people." Sadly, his communicator was among the things that were fried. "Though I'm not even sure who I'd contact anymore." Partly because he's having trouble remembering names and partly because he's not sure even if he could that it'd be anything helpful. So far, the three contacts with people he can remember have all been bewildering.

And Aspen was never this chatty, that he can recall. Though that's nice in this case.

*

"Well, the upside is that you're not being like, arrested or anything." OK, so Aspen suffers the occasional bit of Califronia accent. "So they can't stop you, especially if you can just swim out one of the airlocks." They might have an excuse if he needed them to take him anywhere but if he doesn't… "The Carribean is pretty far away though."

The bit about blood doping gets a small grimace. It doesn't trigger happy memories. "The elevated oxygen levels in your… our, blood, is consistent with a kind of performance enhancing technique used by some athletes. That's the only time we've… they've seen anything like it."

*

Oh that. That's primary school biology. He remembers that, at least. "Blue bodies metabolize… well, both differently and faster than surfacers. Er, unmodified surfacers." Throw drugs or cybernetics into the mix and the whole concept goes all to hell. "And the pressure at depths also means that higher concentrations are required just to ensure that there's some available for actual use. Otherwise hydrospheric pressure would just force a lot of it into the tissues." For surfacers that's dangerous. Nitrogen dissolves and then comes bubbling out when they return, resulting in a condition called 'the bends.' Several quirks of Blue biology prevent that, but highly oxygenated blood is one of the side effects.

"On the plus side, it does tend to make us faster and stronger when we're topside."

*

Aspen Matthews listens to what, for Rowan is something Every Child Should Know with a sort of rapt facination and her attention dips down to capture that information on her tablet, taptaptaping away. "That… explains so much. Except…" Her brow furrows. "If I'm Blue, why didn't I know?"

A frown touches her features, pulling down at her lips but it's as much thoughtful as anything else. Then she gives a short breath of a laugh. "Of course, given that I can't remember anything before I was ten years old and the Paradise not having any record of me to start with…" Well now she's sort of lost in her own memories, more than speaking to him.

*

Rowan himself wonders why on earth a Councilor's daughter would be raised topside and not with her family. Especially if her claim that the surface world does not know of the Blue is true. It's not like they could have gotten her from her home in that case…

Then Aspen provides part of the explanation on her own. Missing time and some place called Paradise. "No records? You were…" He frowns, memories briefly flashing to images of homeless, parentless children: the sad and inevitable outcome of any war so protracted and destructive. "Um… you were a foundling, then?" It kind of begs the question 'why not look more closely at her' but Blue can pass for human. That's one reason he was chosen for the modifications he was. Passing for human is very helpful sometimes.

*

Aspen Matthews tilts her head in a nod, looking back up at him through the spill of dark hair. "There was a cruise ship that had gone missing. And then showed up again ten years later with no explanation… No one on it had aged… I was found as a stowaway I suppose but I couldn't remember anything. Captain Matthews adopted me." She's used to her odd story being a matter of public record, if not common knowledge.

*

Ten years? And she just happened to reappear with the ship. Doesn't exactly seem coincidental to Rowan. "Odd. Almost sounds like…"

The soldier pauses, trying to remember. Sounds like what? He knows it sounds familiar. Ah yes. "Almost sounds like magic… or a trick that the Black might pull. They're another underwater race. Unrelated." That last is supplied since no one here seems to know anything about underwater.

"So you were raised by Captain Matthews… did he ever try to find out who you had been before?"

*

Aspen Matthews's head briefly tips down to make a note of these 'Black'. The question about Captain Matthews gets a bob of her head. "Oh, yeah. Missing persons checks, military favors. But nothing. And he'd promised to take care of me so.. I guess that's why he adopted me." She gives him a smile, the recounting of her history too long in the past to be painful for her. "But I suppose if my parents were actually from an underwater race… That would explain why he couldn't find them."

*

"Your mother…" The Councilor. As Rowan remembers it she'd been a very important woman. The circumstances surrounding Aspen's birth had always been a bit… fuzzy. But by the time it might have mattered the war was hot enough that really, how she was born was less important than what she could do. Such is the calculus of war.

"Her name is Eilah, if I remember aright. She had a position in government, I think." Fudging at this point seems prudent just because so many things are turning out tobe not as he remembers them.

*

Aspen Matthews looks at Rowan for a long moment, and then finally draws a slow breath. She blinks a few times, and then looks out through the transparent dome. "Eilah. Maybe.. I'll be able to ask some of the… Blue about her." She looks over to him, eyes a bit bright and gives him a quick grin. "Well, one that can remember. I wonder if that's a genetic issue?" Since she can't remember before she was ten and he can't remember things now. But it's given more as a joke.

*

Rowan snorts a short laugh out and glances over, returning a small smile. "Perhaps. I have some genetic oddities of my own." Which is a very, very mild way to put it. He sure hopes the scientists aren't basing their knowledge of an 'average' Blue on him. Because he's not one. "As you say though, the Shining Sea is a long way off, and it may take some time to get the opportunity to talk to them." There was a Blue delegation in Atlantis, that he recalls, but he's no longer sure he should go looking there. In fact, he's not entirely sure where to go to begin with, at least to solve his own problems. Aspens on the other hand… "But perhaps I can be of some small service there. I believe I remember where some of the larger cities were."

*

"But how would I—" She breaks off. And then blinks. "I suppose I should be able to swim? Like you do?" Aspen seems somewhat skeptical though. Even if she is 'Blue', what if living on land all her life has damaged whatever would have let her do so?

*

Rowan nods. "You did, after all, manage to breathe water while laying face down in it for several minutes. I think you could probably handle a walk outside right now, if the thought itself didn’t get to you." Or… he's pretty confident about that. Drowning would be the biggest issue and she didn't drown then. Even regular surfacer bodies are pretty incompressible, and Blue can't exactly lose that part. She could do it even better if she had learned to use the one thing he doesn't have, but since he doesn't have it, he can't teach her about it.

He can mention it though. "Er. Most Blue also have an innate ability to manipulate water. Some are more powerful than others though. It's handy when moving about, certainly. Sometimes, very handy." Like if you're lucky enough to be able to water meld.

*

That information gets one of those slow, thoughtful blinks before she looks up at the repaired portion of the dome. "Like the woman did? She held back the water." She looks back over to him and it's clear that while she's working on processing that information, she might also be delaying just 'going for a walk' outside the dome. Under two miles of water.

*

"Mera," Rowan supplies in a tone generally reserved for particularly dangerous snakes on land. "She is a very, very potent hydrokine. She also has a very short temper. I was a bit… surprised when she… um…" The soldier manages to blush a bit. "Leapt to the defense of your colleges. I remember her… somewhat differently. In any case, yes. That ability is not very common among Atlanteans, but extremely common among the blue. In fact, I know of only one person who does not have it."

*

"Mera." Aspen repeats, one of those tricks to remember things. Of course, the mention of Atlanteans verses Blue has her lips parting in confusion to ask, "And Blue are different from Atlanteans?" Here she thought that was just their name for themselves!

*

"Sounds like that's more than 'extremely common'." She says with a light laugh of the ability of water control. "Do you know what happened that only one person doesn't have it? In a whole… nation? Race?" He did say 'cities', which implies something fairly broad.

*

"Different cultures, divergent genetics," Rowan says with a nod. There's a lot more to be said about the differences between Atlanteans and Blue, but that'll do for now. If she wants an in depth (pun not intended) explanation, surely a Blue historian can offer one. Or someone with a less shattered memory. "As for that person… he found himself in an underwater lab peopled by surfacers talking to a woman who seems to remember things very differently than he does. Well, what things he can remember."

*

It does take a moment, but only a moment for her to put that together. "Oh!" A beat. "I would have never guessed." He looks so normal! "Do you want to maybe come with me and look through some news footage to see if it helps you any? I mean, it's all 'surfacer' news but…"


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