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.
Jake was a wanderer. He had always had a knack for getting lost in all of the right places, and that tendency had only grown since the development of his power. Each place, be it a city, a small town, or even a forgotten stretch of interstate had its own collection of special places that really meant something to the people nearby. They could be hidden streams or grottoes where the children swam in winter to a particularly warm cave for the beleaguered homeless. To Jake's alien senses, such places were hulking coils of positive thoughts and linkages, where the memories that really mattered to a person took hold, and he had found one such place for himself, although getting into it was proving something of a difficulty.
Stepping away from the alleyway wall, he studied the architecture as the midday sun beat down lining his brow with sweat. He was sure this was the spot. Although none of the connections he could see penetrated the plaster and brick he could feel before him, they all came to this singular point and recoiled in confusion and loss. Something here had been forgotten. Someplace valuable had been buried and lost here, and now its existence was only a faint memory in those nearby. He needed tools and maybe another way in. He wondered how complex the sewer system was around here.
Turning away from the wall, he checked his wallet and felt out the bills. He had learned to fold the different denominations so he could keep track of their value. Money was always a problem for him. Everyone simply wanted it, with no clear definition of how much, which made it impossible for him to get a sense of it. Two-hundred and forty dollars. That should be enough. Walking out of the alleyway, Jake allowed his senses to wash down the street, found what he was looking for, a hardware store, a block or two down away from the alleyway.
Stepping through the neon haze of the densely packed isles, Jake was glad for his sunglasses. Most people didn't pay attention enough to realize he couldn't see, but it did make some purchases a challenge, such as spray paint. It wasn't long before his small cart was filled with a really random collection of tools and supplies. A crowbar, four rolls of duct tape, a half-dozen cans of spray paint, a camping stove, a three large bottles of naphtha. Smiling, he sauntered over to the cashier.
“Good afternoon, sir. Is this all?” The large balding man draped in plaid said behind his beaten pine desk. Jake watched as coils of suspicion and curiosity slid over his newly-to-be-acquired possessions. He smiled warmly and nodded, allowing a surge of psychic energy into the connections that bound him to the man as customer to vendor. Best if he only focuses on me, Jake figured as he watched the man's head snap towards him with a smile, the thoughts of suspicion and curiosity drowned by the supercharged linkages. The pulse had only been for a moment, but it was enough for his purposes.
“My brother's decided to tear out and redo his kitchen,” he said, shaking his head absently. “He forgot a few things. How much?”
“Forty-seven sixty, sir.” Damn, thought Jake, this wad of cash wasn't going to go far.
“Alright.” Jake passed the man a fifty and waited as the man placed the change in his hands before nodding and accepting the now bagged supplies. “Thanks a lot.”
“Have a good day, sir!” the man smiled after him.
Jake waved a hand over his shoulder and sauntered towards the exit, carefully folding the dollar bills and slipping them into his wallet as he went before stuffing it back into his rear pocket and stepped back out onto the street.
Posted by vampyremage on Jul 31, 2009 11:30:55 GMT -6
Guest
Perhaps more than any other time in her relatively short life Meld needed time to think. Recent events had come to show her that she was becoming, if she hadn't all ready become, the sort of monster that she had always feared to be. She was getting tired of fighting her inevitable moral decline, however. Perhaps it was time that she simply accept what she had become and what she was. There were those out there, those she considered friends like Aura and Predator as well as those she was less close to like Isabel, who seemed to get along just fine in life being murderous monsters. She knew, at least, that Aura and Predator, despite their degeneracies, never compromised their morals or their causes and she knew that she would be the same way, no matter the evils she committed. Was it such a bad thing to enjoy the suffering of others as long as it didn't encompass her entire being?
Meld sighed to herself. It wasn't something that she would be able to work out in a day, that much was certain. Instead she decided to do something that would take her mind off of her moral dillemas, one of the few activities that never failed to take her mind off of all the unpleasantries in life, and that was to begin planning her newest flesh meld in more detail. That and fighting or training for fighting were two of the very few activities that could truly take her mind off of almost anything.
Meld adjusted her newly purchased sunglasses, silently cursing her electric eye. Even with the dark glassless it continued to ache in the bright noon summer sun. It had been an experiment, creating a sensory flesh meld, something she hadn't tried before and had yet to try again since and, although mostly successful, there were still a few kinks to be worked out. Mostly the fact that bright lights made it ache. Oh well, next time perhaps.
Meld walked into a store and began collecting up sketching supplies, mainly good quality paper and pencils. She ignored the looks she got from the humans all around her, used to them by now and feeling in a mostly tolerant mood and went up to the cashier to pay for her purchases. "That'll be $18.22," the young woman manning the till informed her. Meld took out a $20 and payed her, nodding her approval that the woman didn't say anything. She always appreciated tolerant humans, which seemed to be few and far between lately. Well, perhaps the media frenzy of her recent murders had finally left the newscasts to be replaced by the next story of the day.
Turning, Jake began making his way back towards the Alleyway, strolling through the masses of humanity that coursed up and down the street in an endless and sometimes maddening flow. As he walked, he tasted the strands flowing past him, a hobby of his. Pessimists would tell you that all people are alike at most levels. They discount individuality without realizing just how unique their souls truly were, but Jake could see the weight of the stories that created them. Happy, sad, bountiful, or tragic, the weight of these resonances was a thing to behold, and Jake was contented to oblige, although long ago he had learned not to discuss what he saw there.
That being said, a conflicted person was something wholly different. People are decisive creatures. The connections they create soon settle on something and stay there. Once people have found an outlet, they stick to it, for right or wrong. A conflicted person, however, is like the center point of a raging storm. Connections lash outward in all directions and find...nothing. A crisis of self was among the least pleasant things Jake could imagine, right up there with murdering intent, and when he encountered both at once, it drove him to a complete stop.
Jake stood there, staring like an idiot at the young woman who had just exited the art store before him. Connections laid heavy upon her, some bright, but most bristling with dark energy. Her connections screamed with strength, power, agony, murder, and a heavy mote of pleasure. This was a person who had killed and reveled in that fact on some level, and it had tainted her. This was a person who was settling on their own worth.
All around her, he could feel connections of disgust, bitterness, and fear weave through the storm to drive themselves into her form. This was hatred, pure and simple, bound only by the fear of unknown retribution. Jake had felt this himself enough to recognize this for what it was, mutant-hatred. Standing straighter, he pushed through the masses of people moving down the street in an effort to get closer. Was she his business? Probably not, but you get nowhere if you don't bother to change anything. Actions mean more then words. He knew that better then anyone.
“Hey! Hey you!” he yelled as he struggled against the flow of people, but the words didn't seem to traverse the distance between him and the woman. Several people cursed at him under their breath but Jake ignored the strands of anger that whipped fruitlessly at him from the crowd. He needed something with more weight, more power to get her attention. He grinned. It was probably a stupid thing to do, but it would do the job. Karma had its demands, after all.
“Hey Mutant!!!” he bellowed, grinning, hoping she wasn't the type to try and take him out without an explanation.
Posted by vampyremage on Jul 31, 2009 15:09:21 GMT -6
Guest
As Meld exited the store, prize in hand, she smiled to herself, all ready beginning to feel better. Planning and designing her flesh melds always served to have that sort of effect on her. They were an outlet to her talents that was neither destructive to herself or to others and yet with every addition made to her body she knew that she was helping her cause as well because with every addition she became ever more capable and ever more deadly. And her tail would be no exception, indeed she was looking more forward to its creation than to any previous. It was an experiment to be sure and, as with all experiments, that came with an intrinsic risk but if she was successful with its creation than that risk would be more than worth it.
Meld made her way through the dense New York crowd with relative ease. People had a tendency to simply move out of her way as she approached them, either from fear or apprehension. Whatever the reason, she didn't much care. It was one of the perks of being a visible mutant such as she was and more than being visible, she knew she was damn intimidating as well. She had seen other visible mutants, those that were rather innocuous looking and knew that they were likely to encounter the discrimination and hatred as well but none of the benefits that fear tended to bring. She felt profoundly sorry for those unfortunates.
Meld suddenly realized that there was someone behind her shouting to get her attention. Hey mutant? She smirked to herself too amused to be truly insulted. Either the person trying to get her attention was really stupid or...well, there really wasn't an "or" involved. He must be really stupid to risk his personal well being with such an insulting summons. She stopped and turned around, waiting to see who or what would come out of the crowd to confront her and feeling no sense of fear at this unknown stranger.
The individual who did, eventually, emerge out of the masses was hardly what Meld would consider to be threatening. As far as she could tell he was simply a human male with dark glasses although there was, of course, always the possibility that he was a mutant. An interesting thought and perhaps the reason why he had called out to her, although why he couldn't' have been a little more polite about it was beyond her.
"Well?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in his direction. "I presume that I am the mutant you were calling out to. Now what exactly do you want?" The words weren't cold or harsh but they weren't exactly warm either. Until she knew what he wanted or why he had called her she would restrain from judging. If he had called to ridicule or otherwise harm her he would suffer greatly. But something told her that wasn't his intent.
Jake regarded her coolly as he approached and stepped into the small wake she was leaving in the flow of the crowd, and he found it ironic given the withering storm he perceived inwardly. Pensively, he considered his options as she began to speak, the cool words tumbling out of her, full of weight and the quiet implication of violence. He could see the threads of suspicion, indignation, and curiosity weave their way through the writhing mass and adhere to his own glowing form.
Eying the pattern before him, he gambled on the strength of that curiosity. If he could appeal to that aspect of her, he would turn their play into a game of discovery and conditions worthy of forming a steadfast friendship. The trick would be coming at her sideways and keeping her off guard. Fortunately he had a tool for that, and one he intended to use properly this time.
Jake faced her barely-veiled threat with bemused arrogance, a wry grin creeping across his features. Tilting his head slightly, he focused his will and brought forth the power of the Awe for just a moment as he fired off his response, giving it the full power of his psychic potential. Everything about him spoke of a sublime confidence and the complete absence of fear. He was presenting himself to her as an equal in all things, something untouchable by that violence she had so calmly offered.
“I need a favor,” he retorted coyly, “and I'd like you to be the one to give it to me. I'm new to the city and I've got nothing going for me, so I intend to create something. I'll even throw some food in on the deal if you're up for it.”
Inwardly, Jake bathed in the rush born of the Awe for a moment before biting back the power. First impressions made the man, so to speak, and the Awe left one hell of a first impression. As the predatory cunning of the Awe faded away, he watched her reactions carefully for any sign of abject violence.
Posted by vampyremage on Aug 1, 2009 17:16:46 GMT -6
Guest
Meld felt an almost instant sense of attraction towards the individual who had called out to her. Not in the sense of wanting a relationship with him, but there was a certain, almost magnetic, pull to him. Perhaps it was his utter lack of fear and his seeming supreme confidence, she wasn't entirely sure, but the pull was undeniably there. It was so rare for her to encounter someone who didn't fear her, at least a little, upon first seeing her. She was intimidation, her every movement hinted of controlled aggression and knowledge of violence and her flesh melds could not be interpreted as anything other than instruments of pain and death. She was literally bristling with metal and blades and even fellow mutants, even those few as intimately associated with violence as she, usually had some visceral reaction to her presence. But this individual was different and that intrigued her greatly.
"And why would you come to me, of all people, to help you create something in this new city of yours?" She kept her voice cool and neutral. Just because she felt drawn to this stranger didn't mean that she should allow him to know that she felt so drawn, if anything it was a reason to be even more cold and aloof than usual. She didn't completely understand this pull she felt and thus she distrusted it. Not enough to try and avoid it, it was too strong and too intriguing for that, but certainly enough so that a little caution was called for. She didn't often open up to people, especially people she had just met.
"I can't help but wonder if, perhaps, you yourself are a mutant. That might explain why you came to me rather than any number of these others." People around them were starting but, of course, that was nothing new. People were always staring, always judging. She even thought she heard someone mutter something about "dirty mutants" but chose to ignore it. It took a great deal of effort to do so, between her need to defend mutants and the mutant cause and her newfound draw to the violence and the suffering itself. With an immense effort of will she put those thoughts out of her mind and gestured for the stranger to follow her. There had to be some other place for them to talk more privately.
Jake grinned as thicker threads of curiosity and surprise threaded from the storm-wracked mass and embedded themselves into his own coiled mass. He had guessed correctly it seemed. She was trying to maintain her sense of control, but Jake could already tell he had gotten under at least some of her metaphorical armour. Her words, which had spoken of immediate retribution and bled away their power. The cool and drawn demeanor she displayed was more for her own good then his, he suspected, as she began to explain his motives to herself. So far so good.
As she finally turned away, Jake fell into an easy step beside her, moving close enough to allow him to study the twisted interaction of metal and flesh without difficulties from the storm that raged around her. As usual, it was the 'how' that escaped him when it came to mutants. Like Ghost, this woman's internal structure reeked of impossibility. Something within her, coiled and dense, connected with a place beyond the extent of Jake's senses, and this gave her a broken and fractured view in his eyes, a thing pieced together to make a whole that shouldn't exist, and yet did. After a moment, he refocused his mind onto the surroundings. He could feel how anxious she was among the bristling displeasure of the crowd.
“Yeah, I'm a mutant, although not much of one. Anyway, if you want some privacy, I know a place. Follow me. You can call me Nexus, if you want.” he stated simply, and altered their course slightly. The walked for about a block, an unlikely couple around which the masses of humanity crashed against and broke like the prow of ship. It didn't take long at that point to find a forgotten corner, a place where the connections had worn thin and only the dregs of humanity would dare inhabit. The alleyway was a narrow and dark thing, filling out into a decent width some twenty feet from the street. The alley reeked of aged urine and grease and was thick with shadows.
“This suit your needs well enough?” he intoned somewhat sarcastically. If she had questions, let her ask them.
Posted by vampyremage on Aug 1, 2009 21:10:09 GMT -6
Guest
Meld walked in relative silence for a time, trying to study the stranger and not bothering to hide the fact. There really didn't seem to be a point, after all. He was the one who had come to her, not the other way around, and wasn't it natural that she should have some curiosity as to why? It was difficult to tell with his dark glasses, but she got the impression that he was studying her in turn. In recent years much of her survival depended on being able to accurately study people in order to predict their actions and motivations and that experience served her well, as it always did.
"My name is Meld," Meld answered Nexus' introduction, extending a metal hand for a handshake. She knew there were many mutants who disliked physically touching others, feeling that there may be a risk of unknown powers but she had never felt more than a practical caution when it came to tough, perhaps because of her lack of a sense of touch. To her, a handshake was no more than a part of a polite introduction had yet to encounter any power that could actually hurt her through touch. She was, in a way, protected both because she couldn't' feel and because her hands were metal and thus difficult to harm.
"How can you be not much of a mutant? You either are one or you aren't. All powers, no matter how they manifest, have some use. You should not disparage the gifts you have been given." She wasn't quite certain where those words had come from, true as they were. She didn't usually speak in such a manner to those she had just met, but then there was something about this Nexus...She drifted a moment into thought before coming back to herself.
Meld looked around the alley that Nexus had chosen with a wry grin. It was not exactly what she had in mind but she supposed that it would suit. Had she been merely human she might have felt threatened to be in such an obviously seedy and dangerous area of the city but she knew that few, especially humans, were of any real danger to her. She would kill them without second thought if they so much as tried anything. She had done so before.
"I believe this will suit fine," Meld replied. "And I also believe that you requested my help. What, exactly, do you believe I would be able to help you with?" And she also wanted to ask why would he expect that she would agree, but he was a mutant and that meant if it was in her power to help him she would do so.
Jake leaned against the graffiti-strewn wall of the alleyway and smiled, his head tilting upward towards the thin streak of blue-gray sky, and chuckled. Meld. Jake would have even thought the name was cute if it wasn't for the malignant surge of her connections.
“First off, Meld, the universe isn't nice enough to make all of our abilities worth something. God, if he, she, or it, is up there didn't personally make sure that our powers fit nicely into the world. You know what my power lets me do?” he muttered, expressing a bitterness he in no way felt internally, and slipped off his glasses, displaying the smoky-white blankness of his eyes. “My power lets me see. I spent two years in a coma and had my eyes, my perfectly good eyes, atrophy into this, so I could damn well see.” Jake augmented his argument with another momentary surge of the Awe, making sure his point hit home.
“Anyway. The favor. I need to get into some place. It's buried under an apartment building over that ways.” he explained, nodding off in the direction of his 'discovery'. “I don't have any money for rent, and I need a place to myself, and this place just feels right. I don't know why. It just does.”
Jake figured he would let the mystery work for him. It wasn't even a lie, really. There was something intrinsically right about the place, only he knew exactly why it felt so appropriate. In truth, he disliked the small amount of manipulation he was applying the Meld, but he honestly felt only good would come from it. If only he could configure himself as someone she could talk to, maybe he could settle her down.
“There is also this little bastard in a suit that has been following me around. He doesn't make trouble, but he keeps trying to talk to me, and I want a dive he can't track down. That's basically it.”
Posted by vampyremage on Aug 1, 2009 22:49:34 GMT -6
Guest
Meld let out a small gasp upon seeing Nexus' smokey-white eyes, unable to quite stop herself. A moment later she had returned to her cold neutral expression, but even that slight slip was far more than she usually allowed to come through. "Your not the only one whose powers have come at a cost. Try not being able to feel. Anything." Her voice was uncommonly bitter and she didn't even know why she had said those words. A few people knew that she had no sense of touch, but very few knew how deep it went and how much it bothered her. So why had she just said those words? She didn't know and she didn't like it. "But the price has been worth it for everything that my powers have given me. Surely you gained something from yours as well." A statement more than a question.
“Anyway. The favor. I need to get into some place. It's buried under an apartment building over that ways. I don't have any money for rent, and I need a place to myself, and this place just feels right. I don't know why. It just does.”
Meld raised an eyebrow. It was certainly not the sort of request she had been expecting. She had though, perhaps, that he might want her to help him find a place to stay in which case she could lead him to Sanctuary, but he did not appear to desire a place like Sanctuary. "And what makes you believe that I can help you with such a thing?" Cautious now. She wondered if, perhaps, he had somehow gained knowledge of her criminal history. That would be the logical conclusion. Either that or it had something to do with his mutant power, although given the fact that his power apparently allowed him to see that seemed unlikely.
“There is also this little bastard in a suit that has been following me around. He doesn't make trouble, but he keeps trying to talk to me, and I want a dive he can't track down. That's basically it.”
"And you want me to do what, exactly, with him?" Meld asked, amused now. "Shall I take his heart from his chest so that you no longer have to worry about him stalking you? Or perhaps sever the arteries in his neck for you? Would that suffice?" What had gotten into her? She didn't normally talk like this. Something about this individual, or perhaps it was something to do with the turmoil of her soul, was causing her to react in ways she normally would not react. Not around a stranger, certainly. With Aura, she might act in such a way, but not this strange blind mutant she had just met.
Jake was playing with fire. That much was obvious to him. He had never had an opportunity to interact with a person so enamored with violence and the effect was startling. It seemed as a person grew more at ease with the act of killing that the Awe's power to direct those emotions was increased as well. Jake slotted this little piece of mutation lore to the back of his mind and focused on his objective. He had to play this carefully. Jake subtly shifted his expression from one of bitterness to abject disgust, and added a slight flaring of his muscles to express his 'feeling' of being insulted.
“What? No, I don't want the bastard dead. I just want to be left alone!”
Jake allowed himself a moment of social recoil from the woman's comment before carrying on, letting the meaning of what he just said flow naturally into the tirade that would follow. Jake focused his mind and brought on the full force of the Awe. Before, he had only tapped that potential in small pulses, giving unnatural meaning to the moments of his and Meld's encounter that would tie them together. This was different. This time he was going to allow the full power of the Awe to come to bear, supercharging the connections that existed between them. Meld had been willing to kill for him in that moment, and now he was going to take advantage of that fact to hopefully change who she was.
Jake has no real ability to influence minds other then to make people feel an exaggerated sense of meaning to the moments in which he interacts with them, but the Awe was a strange ability. What was said in its throws stuck with a person, a memory that remained in perfect clarity. If Jake could frame his words correctly, he hoped that Meld would recall his words every time she considered killing, and maybe that would make a difference in her life.
As Jake reached for the full power of the Awe, he felt the predatory cunning of its power wash over him, but this time he was prepared and bit back its influence. He stayed in control and directed it outwards. The alley was a perfect place for this. Everyone avoided this place and that meant that Jake didn't have to worry about bystanders stumbling into the effect. Jake watched at the connections that linked him and Meld, those of mild companionship, equality, and a willingness to kill in that moment, flared with psionic glory. Those connections weighed heavy between the pair, and Jake began to speak his words of power:
You would have really gone and cut that guys throat? What the f*** is wrong with you?! You don't go around just killing people. If they threaten you, maybe, but you don't even know the guy! Is this all that you are? I'm all for mutants helping other mutants, f*** that's why I came to talk to you, but this is just wrong.”
Jake shook his head and turned, continuing down a short distance the alley is a disgusted huff, clenching his fists angrily and forcing the Awe to slip away. Although he was moving away, his senses were all trained on the woman behind him, tracking the subtle shifts in the web of light and dark which coiled around her.
Posted by vampyremage on Aug 2, 2009 12:23:47 GMT -6
Guest
“What? No, I don't want the bastard dead. I just want to be left alone!”
Meld smirked coldly. "You want him to suffer then? Suffer to such a degree that he wouldn't dare to come near you again?" She was feeling unusually bitter this day as well as unusually emotional. Usually, almost always, she was able to hide whatever emotions she was experiencing at the time. It made for a very effective defense mechanism; what others didn't know about her couldn't be used against her. But something about today was different and all of her turmoil and doubts came bubbling to the surface in a torrent which she was unable to prevent.
"You would have really gone and cut that guys throat? What the f*** is wrong with you?! You don't go around just killing people. If they threaten you, maybe, but you don't even know the guy! Is this all that you are? I'm all for mutants helping other mutants, f*** that's why I came to talk to you, but this is just wrong.”
Meld took an involuntary step backwards. The words Nexus spoke reverberated around her mind. There was such venom in them, such judgment, and that judgment synced with her own judgement of herself within her own mind. For so long she had debated with herself about what she was and what she was becoming, for so long she had wondered if she killed to easily and with not enough consideration. And yet, strangely perhaps, no one before this strange blind man had ever come out and said such words to her before. It had always been only within her own head; certainly neither Aura nor Predator were the sort to speak out against her penchant for violence.
"I don't," Meld tried to speak, tried to say something to defend herself. But how could she defend herself and her words? How could she defend the fact that she had been willing to kill in cold blood simply because a fellow mutant had asked her to deal with a problem? She felt profoundly ashamed, suddenly and how is it that she had not felt this shame before? How is it that she had almost felt proud, at times, of her cold blood murderous actions? Suddenly she was disgusted with herself.
Meld took a deep, calming breath and tried to speak again. "I'm sorry." Completely inadequate but what else could she say? She stood there, hoping vainly for some sort of absolution. Why this stranger's opinion should even matter was beyond her, but for some reason it did.
The words sounded almost childlike. Lost. Jake turned towards her and let the bitterness and anger slowly drain from his features and settled into a look of frustrated exasperation. Around her, the storm has calmed somewhat. She was still questioning, but it seemed as though Jake's approach was working.
It was now time for him to draw her in and show her that redemption is possible. Jake sighed like a disappointed father and regarded her with his empty white eyes. In the twilight of this forgotten place, he finally felt like he had accomplished something, even if it was only a nudge in the right direction. Jake considered his words. Perhaps this time, less is more.
“I still need that favor.” His response sounded grudging but decisive, as if he had been debating whether she was worth associating with. Returning down the alleyway, he swept past her without catching her eye (not that he could, truthfully) and stepped back out onto the street while simultaneously slipping on the mirrored shades that concealed his mutation.
Hefting his bag, he turned back to her, the sun glinting off of his sweat lined skin. Around him flowed the multitudes of humanity bathed in summer light, while she remained in the wretched alleyway, a malignant sideline to reality. A small touch of the Awe came to him, hopefully that last that he would use for a long time.
“You coming?” he muttered, looking expectant. This is your chance Meld, he thought as he watched connections of responsibility weave themselves from him and into her pattern. Karma was a heavy weight when your reminded of it every moment of your existence. Whatever happened to this woman, he now had a hand in it.
Posted by vampyremage on Aug 2, 2009 17:40:43 GMT -6
Guest
“I still need that favor.”
Meld gave Nexus a long appraising look. Did he truly still desire her help even after everything she had said, after the way she had acted? And if he still wanted her help, what exactly did that say about him? Plainly he had a problem with her killing, but what about the rest of it? She could do more than killing, but most of her skills involved some manner of illegal and often violent behavior and that was surely little more moral than killing in cold blood was. Or perhaps, in some ways, it was worse. After all, when she killed she killed animals, that being how she viewed humans. If she killed mutants it would be different, but she didn't kill mutants. Never had and hoped never to have to.
In some ways Meld's new train of thought disturbed her greatly. It was as if she had gained a new piece of soul, or perhaps regenerated a piece that she had previously lost, but that piece didn't quite fit with the rest of her soul. The killing was never the thing that bothered her most, it was the torturing that had always bothered her more than the killing, and more than that even, the enjoyment of the torturing and the killing. But it was like she had come to some great epiphany and come to realize that it was the killing that she should be most ashamed of, the killing that tainted and burned her soul the worst. And yet, why should that be? Why should the killing of dogs or deer, no matter how cold blooded, be worse than taking pleasure in their suffering? Or worse than the suffering she unintentionally caused so many of them through the acts she did for money, theft, intimidation, blackmail and a myriad of other crimes and sins that she had committed?
Meld knew the difference between right and wrong and had long known that many of the things she did for her cause were slowly eating away at her soul and her humanity. But surely it was still worth it? Surely it was worth it to sacrifice parts of herself if only she could do well by her people and help the advancement of the mutant cause? She shook her head, trying without success to stop her mind from spinning in circles. She couldn't do anything about these problems now, couldn't solve her moral dilemmas in a day. Not for the first time, she considered how much easier it would be if she were simply able to turn her emotions and her morals off permanently. She was able to do so in situations of extreme stress and extreme concentration, so why not forever. She sighed and began following Nexus.
"I'm coming," Meld answered, ice beginning to seep into her voice. She didn't understand what was happening to her, why these things were suddenly so much of a concern, so much in the forefront of her mind, but that was no reason to cease in her quest to assist the betterment of mutants everywhere. And if she was to be of any assistance here in helping Nexus, and no matter how much she was beginning to distrust him, she would need to be able to concentrate fully without the distraction of petty internal conflicts. And that meant concentrating fully on the task at hand. Nothing else mattered until it was complete. Then she could focus on her own struggles. But until then she would become whatever was necessary to ensure success. Because without her cause and without succeeding in her cause, who and what was she but a murderous monster?
Jake's confidence shuddered somewhat as he was touched by a brief tendril of suspicion emanating off of the woman in his direction. Maybe she was quicker then he had thought. It was time to play things cool and distance himself from that particular exchange. If Jake could distract her and flood her mind with other considerations, hopefully she would focus more on the lesson rather then the encounter.
Jake waited for the woman to settle in beside him before continuing down the street. To him, the woman was like an icebreaker. Thick coils of fear literally sweeping aside the crowd before them. It was an interesting thing to perceive. Come to think of it, he mused, that same fear of contact raced along the forefront of most trains and eighteen-wheelers. He hoped he wouldn't have to wade through that wave of fear at any point. He was pretty sure he didn't have enough to put her down if it came to violence.
Jake slowed his steps as they came along a series of small shops smelling of oriental spices. One shop in particular coiled with links of satisfaction and contentment, and after a moments hesitation he turned towards the door the air of confident assurance still hanging from him. He had made a decision and it was time to eat.
“Come on. Let's get some noodles. I'm hungry,” he claimed somewhat evenly as he brushed aside the long strands of beaded cord that covered the doorway. Inside, the shop was sweltering in heat. The complex smells of cooking oil, harsh spice, and savory meats washed over him and he surveyed the scene. It was a small hole-in-the-wall with maybe a half-dozen tables inhabited by knowing locals. To most, Jake recognized, this place appeared as a dive, but it was obviously the best eatery in blocks. The locals eyed the young man somewhat suspiciously. It was obvious that not many knew of the quality of the place and it had become a guarded secret among the small Asian community. Jake pretended to regard the menu casually, while sounding out with his senses what the best meals were based on the people around him.
