The X-men run missions and work together with the NYPD, striving to maintain a peaceful balance between humans and mutants. When it comes to a fight, they won't back down from protecting those who need their help.
Haven presents itself as a humanitarian organization for activists, leaders, and high society, yet mutants are the secret leaders working to protect and serve their kind. Behind the scenes they bring their goals into reality.
From the time when mutants became known to the world, SUPER was founded as a black-ops division of the CIA in an attempt to classify, observe, and learn more about this new and rising threat.
The Syndicate works to help bring mutantkind to the forefront of the world. They work from the shadows, a beacon of hope for mutants, but a bane to mankind. With their guiding hand, humanity will finally find extinction.
Since the existence of mutants was first revealed in the nineties, the world has become a changed place. Whether they're genetic misfits or the next stage in humanity's evolution, there's no denying their growing numbers, especially in hubs like New York City. The NYPD has a division devoted to mutant related crimes. Super-powered vigilantes help to maintain the peace. Those who style themselves as Homo Superior work to tear society apart for rebuilding in their own image.
MRO is an intermediate to advanced writing level original character, original plot X-Men RPG. We've been open and active since October of 2005. You can play as a mutant, human, or Adapted— one of the rare humans who nullify mutant powers by their very existence. Goodies, baddies, and neutrals are all welcome.
Short Term Plots:Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
The Fountain of Youth
A chemical serum has been released that's shaving a few years off of the population. In some cases, found to be temporary, and in others...?
MRO MOVES WITH CURRENT TIME: What month and year it is now in real life, it's the same for MRO, too.
Fuegogrande: "Fuegogrande" player of The Ranger, Ion, Rhia, and Null
Neopolitan: "Aly" player of Rebecca Grey, Stephanie Graves, Marisol Cervantes, Vanessa Bookman, Chrysanthemum Van Hart, Sabine Sang, Eupraxia
Ongoing Plots
Magic and Mystics
After the events of the 2020 Harvest Moon and the following Winter Solstice, magic has started manifesting in the MROvere! With the efforts of the Welldrinker Cult, people are being converted into Mystics, a species of people genetically disposed to be great conduits for magical energy.
The Welldrinker Cult
A shadowy group is gaining power, drawing in people who are curious, vulnerable, or malicious, and turning them into Mystics. They are recruiting people into their ranks to spread the influence of magic in the world, but for what end goal?
Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
Adapteds
What if the human race began to adapt to the mutant threat? What if the human race changed ever so subtly... without the x-gene.
Atlanteans
The lost city of Atlantis has been found! Refugees from this undersea mutant dystopia have started to filter in to New York as citizens and businessfolk. You may make one as a player character of run into one on the street.
Got a plot in mind?
MRO plots are player-created the Mods facilitate and organize the big ones, but we get the ideas from you. Do you have a plot in mind, and want to know whether it needs Mod approval? Check out our plot guidelines.
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Feb 23, 2012 23:23:37 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
"The Church of Everlasting Life," said the sign.
The place looked different from how it used to be, the last time Kaitlyn saw the place. And it was probably just as ominous as, if not more ominous than it was back then. She heard that the building used to be the home of the old "Church of Humanity," before those guys started falling apart. From what Kaitlyn had heard in the Sanctuary, there was nothing in the world more horrible than those people. They abused mutant children, they thought mutant adults should die, and they pushed Registration into law, just to name a few of their crimes. The mere fact of their former presence in this building made the young orderling shiver.
It was like the place was constructed in some way, or filled with some evil presence, so that it would continually attract the worst people, who belonged to the most awful religions. She already knew these people were going to end the world, but what other things were they doing? Probably, Kait reasoned, the worst cult-y things that a cult like this one ever could be a part of. They probably killed babies and ate them, or some sort of human sacrifice kind of thing like that. She'd probably see blood everywhere the second she walked through those doors.
No, not those doors. She was not going to walk through those doors. Sebastian, the unicorn-man who tried to kill his wife and children, who could be responsible for the end of the world one day: he was greeting everyone who walked through that particular set of doors. He was a killer. All of the people who believed in his religion could be killers. Why was she here, again?
Because it was all part of stupid Alister's stupid plans, which were stupid. So now Kaitlyn was going to walk through those stupid doors and get her stupid self killed, stupidly. Or maybe she'd blend in long enough to watch a stupid human sacrifice. Maybe she'd become a stupid human sacrifice herself when the stupid cultists realized she wasn't one of them.
After taking a few deep breaths, Kaitlyn snuck in through the doorway that didn't have any unicorns standing in it. The inside of the bulding looked a little bit nicer than it used to. The walls were adorned with murals, as well as an almost haphazard mix of volunteer-crafted artwork. Kaitlyn could tell that the interior of this particular room was a real community effort. Here, there were brightly colored handprints on the wall of all shapes and sizes; there, she could see a striking mural of a unicorn standing triumphantly on a hill, while the sun rose in the background. She nearly knocked over an iron-wrought statue of a powerful-looking man with long, flowing hair and a horn coming out of his forehead.
On one part of the wall, there was a bulletin board overflowing with posters and calendars and flyers and all kinds of things advertising one church event or another. Bake sales, soup kitchens, study groups, Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, blood donations, Meals on Wheels, charity walks, charity marathons, weekly dinners, mission trips... the list went on and on. A table right next to the bulletin board was overflowing with pamphlets and sign-up sheets of all kinds. All of this only served to confuse Kaitlyn. Weren't these people going to be ending the world?
Probably. But as far as their "church service" was concerned, they didn't seem too interested in ending the world. They seemed a lot more interested in changing it, for the better. A man named DJ, who had a fondness for nose rings, talked about an "epidemic" of homelessness in New York City, how shameful it was that the richest country in the world could have so many poor, and what all of them, those who were assembled to listen to him today, could do to help out. Here and there, though, he would mention something extremely peculiar: by helping, they worked to earn "immortality." DJ peppered his entire speech with references to this.
In the pews, Kaitlyn sat next to a family that brought a few of their children, hoping that this would help her blend in better. She leaned over to a girl her age who sat next to her, and whispered "How are we gonna earn immortality by doing all that stuff?"
The girl looked at her like she was crazy. Kaitlyn got nervous.
"I mean... uhm... It's the first time I've ever been here, so..."
She seemed to find this acceptable. "Oh, okay. So, Sebastian, the guy with the horn on his head and the white hair – you see him over there?" the girl gestured towards the front of the room and off to the side.
"Well, he's not just just a mutant. He's, like, our God. He can make people live forever, y'know, since this place is called the Church of Everlasting Life and all," sarcasm duly noted, "but he'll only do that for people who work really hard to make the world a better place." Kaitlyn gave the other girl a blank stare and nodded. Then, they both returned their gazes to the front, where DJ was still talking about homeless people.
"My name's Jill, by the way," said the other girl.
"I'm Kaitlyn." she answered without thinking, and instantly regretted it. She hadn't taken the time to come up with a fake name, or a fake story. Now they knew her real name! This was terrible. This would make things really dangerous for her. This...
This was some really good music. They were playing music now, and something about it made herforget all of the anxieties building up inside her, and replaced them with... a feeling of empowerment? Kaitlyn felt like she could do anything! Something about that melody, that rhythm, made her want to get up and get something done, right now! These feelings lasted even after the last note drifted out from Perry's acoustic guitar, and not even Kaitlyn could resist applauding.
Right when that was over, a girl named Arianna took the podium, and began to announce the service opportunities that the church was offering. Kaitlyn left the church that day with an outrageous number of fliers from the table near the entrance. She wanted to do every single one of the things in these fliers, even the things she wasn't capable of doing, and the things she wasn't legally allowed to do, and the things that were scheduled to happen at the same time, and the things that she didn't even really understand, and even those things that, should she not have just heard Perry's music, she never would have even dreamed of doing.
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Feb 26, 2012 22:50:10 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
Community service, day one: canceled.
Kaitlyn learned what a 5k was, and realized that she didn't want to participate in it. Besides, it had a pretty big sign-up fee, and she didn't want anyone at the Church to realize that she had access to even that kind of money, or was related to anyone who did. She had things in mind, and for these things to become reality, it would be better if the other churchgoers thought she was just a street urchin. For similar reasons, she'd also decided to leave her phone at Future Sight whenever she would go anywhere the other churchgoers would probably see her. That thing was expensive, as Lisa was sure to let the orderling know after she broke the first one. The vast majority of homeless kids couldn't afford this kind of technology. She left it buried in a small mountain made of her clothes and sleeping bag and pillow, off in the corner of the girls' shared bedroom.
At Alister's insistence, Kaitlyn had moved in with the other kids at Future Sight. She missed her own bed, she missed the other people at the Sanctuary, and she especially missed Lori. That said, she would rather die than let the other kids see her crying over it. She had a reputation to uphold, and this reputation, as she saw it, simply didn't allow for crying. All of her crying would be done somewhere convenient on the way to or from the Church, where she could avoid being seen by anyone she knew, or in one of the rooms in the shop where she could catch some time alone.Eros would sometimes ask if she was homesick, to which she would supply an emphatic "no."
Kaitlyn didn't know very much about Eros's mutation, other than the part about dying if she kissed him. She wasn't particularly interested in kissing anyone, so that wasn't a problem. Even so, the more time she spent in that place, the more she found herself worrying about letting Eros down.
Community service, day two: good to go.
It was a Monday, late in the afternoon. The churchgoers were in a soup kitchen, preparing to serve all the homeless that would be coming in today. DJ was in charge, and he was busy getting himself acquainted with the believers he wasn't already on a first-name basis with. "Hey there," he greeted Kaitlyn cheerily and extended a hand. "I'm DJ." As if there were people in their group who didn't already know this.
"Kaitlyn," she answered, holding eye contact and forcing as much confidence into her voice as she could muster. DJ was amused.
"Nice to meet you, Kaitlyn. Are your parents anywhere?"
"Calvary Cemetery."
He stopped smiling. "...Oh. I'm so sorry." His voice became a lot softer, and decidedly less cheery.
"Yeah..." Kaitlyn sighed. The melancholy in her voice was sincere.
"Do you... have an adult here with you?"
"...There are lots of adults here."
"No, what I meant was..." he trailed off, but he kept staring at the kid in front of him. "Well... how about this: why don't you go work on getting the tables and stations ready, and I'll join you after I've gotten everyone here started. Okay?" She nodded. Thus began a long evening of feeding the homeless. DJ later manned a serving station with Kaitlyn, and he felt extremely awkward instructing her to smile when she dished out her soup. Once told, though, she didn't have any trouble with it. There were so many smiles going around already that it was easy, and the gratitude of all the homeless she encountered made it even easier.
When everything was said and done, DJ took Kaitlyn aside.
"I just want to be sure about this, before we both go off on our separate ways, here. Do you have a home to go back to?"
"...Yeah." She had to think about it. Not a good sign.
"...Are there adults there? Who take care of you?"
"Yep. Well, there's one guy. We call him Eros."
DJ knew a little bit about Greek. He found it very disturbing that a man who called himself 'Eros' would be taking care of multiple children. In whatever form 'taking care of them' might take. He lowered his voice, somehow managing to seem even more worried than he had been. "Um... does he make you to do anything... weird?"
"Weird?" she blinked.
"Well... uh..." it was difficult to ask a kid her age about that sort of thing. He tried a different approach. "Never mind. It's pretty dark out, now. Do you have a way to get home?"
"I walked here." And she could walk back, too.
"You really shouldn't be walking around alone, not this late."
"I'm a mutant. I can take care of myself."
"Well, still. There are some scary people out there." And, potentially, one she was already living with. "Why don't I walk you home? Just to be safe."
"Uh..." She tried to think up the best way to handle this. "You don't have to."
"I insist." And no form of protest Kaitlyn could put up would stop him. They set out together.
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Mar 6, 2012 23:07:25 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
"Hi, Kaitlyn." Eros greeted them at the door. "And who would this be?"
"DJ Skyner." They shook hands. Kaitlyn slipped past both of them and into shop. "I'm one of the leaders at the Church of Everlasting Life." He seemed kind of surprised that he would have to introduce himself at all.
"Eros," he replied. "Pleased to meet you."
"Are you the one who takes care of her?"
"You could say that."
"So, you know that she's been walking all over the city by herself, right?"
Eros sighed. "Yeah... she didn't hurt anyone, did she?"
DJ blinked. He couldn't have heard that right. "What?"
It took Eros a second to catch on. "...Oh! She's a mutant. Sometimes, stuff just gets blown up when she's around. It's not pretty." DJ's eyebrows raised.
"Eros!" Kaitlyn whined.
Eros turned around; the girl was still lingering nearby and listening in, as opposed to her standard immediately-sneak-off-and-send-messages-to-mommy maneuver. "Right. Sorry." He turned back to DJ. "She's a lot better at controlling her powers than she used to be. So, it wasn't too dangerous for you to walk with her." He glanced at Kaitlyn as if for her approval. She nodded, and he continued. "Besides, I couldn't stop her from going to see you guys if I wanted to."
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Jun 4, 2012 1:21:09 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
The people at the Church were nice. It was hard to imagine them destroying the world as she knew it. Harder still was imagining that ruining their lives and shattering their faith would make anything better, as Lori said. Sebastian was a pretty cool guy. Even if his whole religion was built on an obvious lie, he was doing some good stuff with it. He was helping the poor and the downtrodden, kinda like what Lori was doing with the Sanctuary. His Church was also helping to save the environment and all the plant and animals in it, something Kaitlyn thought silly at first, but slowly came to accept, and even enthusiastically support. Lori was right, in order to make something truly meaningful happen, they needed to unite everyone against a common enemy... but did that enemy really have to be Sebastian?
Of course, she would never ask Lori that question. She would keep her mouth shut like a good little Orderling. Besides, Lori's arguments were so well-reasoned, to voice an opinion contrary to them would have to be some form of stupidity. The last thing Kaitlyn was about to do was make herself look stupid in front of Lori by asking a stupid question like that.
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!
"Nope!" Kaitlyn's grin widened, "I blasted it out of the air before it could hit me."
"You can do that?"
"Yeah."
An otherwise boring Sunday afternoon had turned interesting, once one of the younger kids brought up the subject of superheroes. And didn't they know that they had a superhero in that very room, right then? Kaitlyn was sure to let them know that yes, in fact, she was a superhero. Thus began storytime with Kaitlyn. Though the two younger kids on the couch were by far the most active members of her audience, Elias, Alistair, and Letitia were also in the room, each occupying themselves with their own hushed conversation, or, alternatively, just being a smug little jerk with blond hair and sunglasses. Kaitlyn ignored said jerk and his smugness as best she could.
"How do you know his spine was broken?" Julia cut in.
"He shouted something about how he couldn't feel his legs. Anyway," Kaitlyn continued, "I told lion-head that he'd better not try to do anything else stupid if he knew what's good for him. Guess what he does after that?" Her voice lowered and she leaned in towards the twins. They gave her their rapt attention. "He sorta smiled at me, showing me these HUGE fangs, then he reached down... and stabbed the pigeon guy right in the heart!" She pretended to stab Julia with an invisible knife, for emphasis. She almost jumped back, and the room got noticeably colder. Crow's eyes lit up.
"Was there a lotta blood?"
"Of course there was a lot of blood, weirdo." Julia snapped at him.
Kaitlyn wouldn't let this point go without the embellishment it was due. "Oh, there was a ton of it. It got all over his clothes, and the wall, and the ground and really just about everywhere. It was pretty bad." Julia was horrified, Crow was fascinated, and Kaitlyn was eating it up.
"What then?" He prompted.
"Then I kicked his – "glance at Elias, "butt. I kept blasting him into the wall, to try to break his spine, like what he did to the other guy."
"Did you?"
"Nope. He was pretty tough. I mean, there were craters in the wall that he was getting knocked into, and it was made of solid brick. He just kept getting up, and I kept knocking him down. I actually got tired from knocking him around so much! Eventually, he managed to get up and throw a trash can at me while I was catching my breath. That!" She held up a finger to stave off further questions from Crow, "That's when the Judge came in."
The finger did nothing. "You met the Judge!?"
"Yeah. He jumped in out of nowhere and punched the thing in half. The lion-guy knew that he'd be screwed if he stayed around, so he ran away. We chased him, but he was too fast for us. Later, the judge told me that he might ask me to team up with him sometime."
"No way!" Crow could barely contain himself.
"Yeah. So I'll probably see him again."
"Cool story, Kaitlyn." Letitia spoke up, smirking. Kaitlyn glared at her for a moment, fully prepared to let her know that it was more than just a story.
Alistair beat her to the punch. "Actually, I don't think she's lying. She will be seeing the Judge again. That much is true." Kaitlyn gave Letitia a triumphant 'I told you so' look. She managed to keep acting excited in spite of the instinctive, ominous feeling that Alister's statement left in the pit of her stomach.
The conversation drifted on to other things. What it's like in Sebastian's church. The more child-friendly scandals that Letitia's rats have uncovered. A homeless mutant with a flying grocery cart who's been working with Elias under Alister's orders. The whole time, Kaitlyn was dwelling on what Alister had said. She eventually worked up the resolve to bring it to the oracle.
"Hey, Alistair?" she approached him even as the others kept talking. He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head to let her know that she had his attention. She could see the worry in her own face from the reflection on his ever-present sunglasses.
"Mmhm?"
"Could I take a peek into the future at--"
"No."
"But... please? I'm getting a really bad feeling about--"
"I said no." His response had a lot more emphasis than Kaitlyn had anticipated. That ominous feeling in her stomach grew more unbearable. If he felt this strongly about it, something really bad had to be on the horizon.
"Why not?" She whined.
"I don't have to explain myself to you."
Worst of all possible answers. It had to be something extremely bad. "Can you at least give me a hint?"
He considered this for a moment before violently shaking his head. "No, no, no, no, no. I can't do that, because... just, no. I can't." It was clear to Kaitlyn that something was making Alister extremely anxious. Kaitlyn was only barely able to contain her fear by now.
"Is it --" She began, but he wouldn't even let her say another word.
"Look, I don't have to explain myself! I can't tell you anything, and that's final!" The room fell silent, and everyone else was staring at him. Perhaps he had said that a little bit louder than he intended. "I... need to be alone for a second. Excuse me." He hurried into the back of the store, leaving everyone feeling confused, and Kaitlyn feeling even worse than she had been.
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Jun 12, 2012 14:14:10 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
Kaitlyn had made quite an impression on Sebastian's cult. Kids her age, especially mutant orphans living in questionable circumstances, didn't have a reputation for generosity, yet the amount of time and effort this child had offered to the community put most of the adults to shame. The Church of Everlasting Life offered an outrageous number of community service opportunities, and Kaitlyn participated in the majority of them. The only ones she didn't attend were those she couldn't; some had a minimum age requirement, and others would require that she have the ability to exist in two places simultaneously, which, while possible with the assistance of a few Sanctuary residents she could name, would still be a bit excessive. On top of this, she was present at virtually every youth group meeting, church service, and community event that the Church held.
One month after Kaitlyn first walked into Sebastian's community, something unusual happened, which filled the little girl with hope. Arianna gave an unusual speech one day during a church service. It was unusual because, instead of being about what the community had accomplished, or what the community could do to change the world, or something about some lofty idea or another, it was about a very specific individual in the cult. Namely, Kaitlyn.
It was surreal to hear herself being described as Arianna described her that day. "Selfless," she was called. An inspiration. A bright, shining example. A paragon of the ideals that the Church stood for. It was funny, because Kaitlyn herself used to participate in some of that gang violence that they baked those pies to stop. She'd stolen money so that she could get something a little nicer than what was standard at the Sanctuary; when being an Order member made this unnecessary, she still did so occasionally, just for the thrill. Sometimes, she even tried to impress those who society would call "criminals," or "scum," by bragging about such things as her stealing or her ability to cause violence. She had learned how to lie, and sometimes to lie well, a skill which made her a little proud of herself. This was the same girl whose praises Arianna was singing that day.
Soon, Kaitlyn imagined, Sebastian would grant her immortality. Soon, her work would pay off in a substantial way. Soon, if she kept up her work, there might be some kind of general announcement that she had ascended to the status of a minor deity, and then Sebastian would make her immortal and she would become privy to all sorts of secrets that would be useful to the Oracle and to Lori.
In another month, Kaitlyn gave up on waiting for the unicorn man to hand her immortality on a silver platter. She wasn't going to get it just by working hard at community service. She needed to do something else, on top of that. Something... godlike, but something she could manage to do. After all, Sebastian had made people revere him as a god just by waving his healing powers around at everyone; surely, a mutant with a flashy mutation like Kaitlyn's could probably manage something similar.
She needed a plan.
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Jun 18, 2012 4:26:20 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
"Let me handle the planning." Alister didn't even look up from his math work.
Some "brainstorming session" this turned out to be
And some "mastermind." Alister was barely doing half of his math exercises. Kaitlyn looked over his shoulder for a few minutes, then put her finger on one of the ones he skipped.
"This one's easy. X is equal to 6."
He stopped, considered this, shrugged, and wrote out the answer. Kaitlyn reflected on his homework habits, and began to speak. Alister cut her off before she could let out a syllable.
"Math isn't important. It's a waste of my time. I will never use this again in my life. I'm actually not even using it now; I'm just remembering answers that I saw on my paper in the future. You may think this is stupid, but now I don't have to waste time learning math, when I could be spending that time stopping Sebastian from destroying the world."
Kaitlyn hated when he did that. Especially when he did it to her.
"As for the plan, I already have something put together. You'll do the right thing when the time comes. Don't worry about it."
That was agonizingly cryptic. Kaitlyn remained unconvinced. Not to mention frustrated, and worried. She opened her mouth to voice some kind of protest. Again, Alister cut her off.
"If I told you what you had to do, there's a very good chance that I would have just ruined the whole thing. If that happened, you and I would have just wasted a few months of our lives on a failed plan. As it is, you won't fail. Let's keep it that way." The tone of voice he used reminded Kaitlyn of why she fantasized so much about punching him in the face.
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Jun 18, 2012 4:40:34 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
Jill was praying.
She hadn't done this in a long time; ever since her parents left the Church of Humanity and told her that the whole thing was a lie, and that all of them had been tricked. That her baby brother would grow up to be a mutant, and that nothing as beautiful as a little baby boy could be evil. No God her parents wanted to believe in would tell them to do to this child what the CoH had recommended they do. The whole thing had to be a lie, so they left. This left a gaping hole in the family's spiritual life, which, years later, Sebastian finally managed to fill.
Strictly speaking, the Church of Everlasting Life didn't advocate this kind of prayer. Their God was a real God, one who they could actually walk up to and have a conversation with, because he existed in the real world Their God also didn't have telepathy, so, really, as far as Jill's new religious doctrine was concerned, praying to her new God wasn't a particularly good use of her time.
Why was she praying? Because it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. The alternatives, weeping and panicking, didn't seem like very attractive options either. Besides, she wasn't so sold on the idea of prayer being useless.
Why all the weeping and panicking? Because it seemed like the right thing to do at the time for almost everyone who was neither praying nor waving a gun at all the praying, weeping, and panicking members of the Church of Everlasting Life's youth group. Most of them were doing their weeping and panicking while huddled in the corner of the youth group's meeting room, where they were supposed to be hearing a few interesting and educational presentations about homelessness or environmental threats, possibly while eating some snacks. Instead of that, they were hearing an interesting, if uneducational rant from an armed madman who was convinced that God came to him in the form of a swarm of rats. Moreover, these rats (i.e. God) told him that this Church of Everlasting Life was an abomination, that it and its community were leading their souls astray, and the only way for him to save their souls, according to rat-swarm-God, involved waving a gun at them, shooting a few holes in some very lovingly decorated walls, and a few other complicated and convoluted things that Jill wasn't particularly paying attention to.
The crazy guy with the gun was paying quite a lot of attention to these complicated and convoluted things. These things were a message from God himself, after all, and they somehow involved the very uncomfortable looking rat that occupied the hand of his that didn't have a loaded pistol. Perry looked at him as if he were perfectly insane, which was quite indicative of just how astray Perry's soul must have been at the time.
When all of this had started happening, Kaitlyn was in the bathroom. As the madman was describing his experience with that uncanny swarm of rats, Kaitlyn was walking through the door behind him, making Perry's eyes widen. More than anything at that moment, he wanted to tell her to run, and to get help while she was at it. But she just stood there, dumbfounded. Watching the man periodically alternate between waving his rat and waving his gun at all of her friends.
Soon, the man's rant was reaching a crescendo. He was yelling at them loudly enough that he could barely hear the continued weeping of some of those before him, much less the footfalls of the girl behind him.
A metal folding chair behind him creaked.
Before he could react, he felt a series of unfamiliar sensations. A small pair of hands on either side of his head. A very sudden, very intense, and very brief headache. The distinct feeling that his head had suddenly become far less solid and far more prone to leaking than he was accustomed to.
None of these sensations were very pleasant by any stretch of the imagination; thankfully, at the end of it all, he began to feel decidedly more dead than usual. He toppled over, his less-than-solid head making a less-than-pleasant noise as it collided with the floor. The very uncomfortable-looking rat took this opportunity to make a break for it.
Kaitlyn stood atop the metal folding chair, doing her very best not to look as distressed as she felt. Her efforts here were met with mixed success.
There was a confused silence among the other youth group members and volunteers, followed by relief, and even some joy. Some hugged each other, others looked at Kaitlyn in amazement. Not knowing what else to do, Perry gave Kaitlyn a hug. From that point on, her memory is a blur of relief and activity, of parents being called by various means, of paramedics with a body bag, and policemen with notepads and interviews. At the end of it all, she found herself feeling two things exclusively: numb, and unwilling to even look at Alister or Letitia for a long time.
Jill would become convinced that prayer wasn't useless, and she wouldn't be afraid about it. After all, her prayers were answered. She pleaded to her god for help, and he answered by sending his servant Kaitlyn.
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!
Posted by Kaitlyn Faust on Jun 23, 2012 13:21:47 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
866
13
Jul 17, 2017 23:56:20 GMT -6
"He could have killed me."
They were the first words that Kaitlyn had said all day. Letitia shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Alister was unperturbed. Everyone else was staring at her.
Eros strongly considered stopping this conversation before it started. Or, at the very least, convincing her to postpone it until they had eaten their dinner. Something about the redhead's demeanor, though, told him that intervening in any way could make his family's dinnertime end quickly and violently. The redhead hadn't touched her food; instead, she simply sat there, staring intently at her lap, fighting a constant battle to avoid sobbing.
She'd been like that all evening since she got home, and she pushed away anyone who tried to do anything to make it better. Nobody wanted to push back; nobody wanted to be blamed for her blowing up the shop, so they left it at that, until now.
"But I knew he wouldn't." Alister chimed in, having finally finished chewing his noodles. He took another mouthful.
"You made me kill him."
Eros was moments away from telling Elias and Marco to herd the twins away, but he felt Alister's hand on his arm, stopping him. The little Oracle wanted everyone to stay.
"You actually could have just injured him. But I knew you wouldn't think of that, and it's honestly better this way. You seem more impressive to everyone else, and Charlie doesn't stay a loose end."
Kaitlyn fought against the impulse to cry, lost, and hid her face in her hands. Why did Alister have to be so right all the time? He wouldn't even let her feel justified in feeling sad!
Eros looked at Alister, and the Oracle shook his head. "I know this is tough," said the boy, "but what we're doing here is bigger than us. What we're doing here is stopping the end of the world. If we're going to succeed, we have to make hard choices. If stopping the end of the world meant killing one man, I would do that. If it meant killing a hundred, or a thousand, or everyone in New York City, I'd still do that. We don't have the luxury of feeling sorry about it; if we hold back, we're all dead anyway. So keep that in mind."
Kaitlyn left the dining room to go cry on the couch in the living room, where she wouldn't have to be seen. Letitia followed. Elias gave Alister a death glare. "Happy?"
He replied with a shrug. "You know I'm right, and it needed saying."
After polishing off his plate, the oracledropped his dishes off at the kitchen and made his way into the living room, where he found Letitia and Kaitlyn hugging each other on the couch, Kaitlyn crying, and Letitia patting her. This tender moment was tolerated for another few moments before Alister decided to interrupt it.
"Kaitlyn." The two girls tried not to acknowledge his presence. "Now's a good time for you to take a break. Pack your things and get ready to leave tomorrow morning. Spend some time at home. We won't really be needing you for another week or so."
Without really waiting for any sort of response, he was gone.
...You've heard stories about me? Don't listen to them! It's safe to sit next to me, really!
