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.
Zephyr couldn’t quite stop the slight smirk which tugged at his lips as Isabel gasped her answer in between rapid, panting, breaths that did nothing to help him maintain eye contact. Still, he managed... mostly, and gifted the gamine with an irritated yet amused glare for her cheek. The ingénue had surprising way with words at times that, while admittedly petulant and puerile, could also be strangely endearing, even if it was utterly unintentional. “Cute.” He told her in a wry tone, “but you’re only half right.” Reaching over without warning he delivered a light flick to her nose, prompting a weary squeak from the soubrette as she clapped a hand over her face, a move which only served to spread the dirt and grime from the floor onto her features, a disservice she clearly blamed on the hessian if the weak glare was anything to go by.
Managing a silent chuckle Zephyr merely shook his head as he idly drew a white handkerchief from his jacket and dropped it over the girls head before standing back up. “On your feet Isabel, let’s see if you can figure out the other half before we’re done. Don’t worry you have plenty time.”
And so it went; Zephyr ran Duskmoor through one crushing exercise after the next, from squats to press ups, crunches to jumping jacks he pushed her until the soubrettes body was visibly trembling from exhaustion and she could hardly do more than groan after each new command and even that only barely.
It took far longer than the elemental had expected, but three hours after they’d started the gamines body finally gave out and she collapsed on her side, chest heaving and eyes barely open as she wheezed and tried to gulp down as much air as possible. The girl was so drained that she scarcely did more than blink when Zephyr crouched down beside her once again, and when she failed to take the offered bottle of water he held it lightly to her lips, forcing her to sip slowly.
“Easy now, that was quite the performance.” He told her quietly, breaking the stuttered silence as a gentle, barely tangible force, shifted the spent soubrette into a sitting position. “You certainly deserve a rest but not quite yet,” He couldn’t afford to have her rest yet, if she didn’t wind her muscles down first they’d kill her when she woke up and she’d be useless for the next few days. She needed to stretch, or failing that a scalding bath.
As he carefully hauled the exhausted gamine to her feet in a vain effort to have her stand he tried rousing her again. "Come on Isabel, no time to sleep yet, if you don't start stretching I'll do it for you."
Note to self, install hot tub; it can only make things better.
Zephyr was trying to kill her, plain and simple. If Isabel had thought she'd been tired after the laps she'd had to run it was nothing compared to what she felt after the number of other exercises he forcibly put her through. On several occasions she wound up thinking she'd rather be cornered in a burning building than have to endure this. There wasn't too much room for such thinking or any other kind of thinking the longer the workout stretched, though.
There were muscles aching that she didn't even know she had. Her limbs felt so much like jello that they were almost numb with exhaustion and she was finding it hard to stop shaking whenever her muscles were put to use in order to move. Her lungs felt like they were on fire as they worked to deliver oxygen to her body and the pounding of her heart was hard enough to hurt.
A tired groan was the only response she gave when she was shifted into a sitting position and then hoisted to her feet. Her legs were having a very hard time supporting her weight and she didn't particularly want to make them. She could have easily passed out on the dirty floor. In her current state it was comfortable enough and she no longer cared for how grimy it was or how yucky she felt. But she wouldn't have been able to sleep even if she'd tried. She'd been told not to and something told her that at the moment Zephyr's word was law on the issue. She'd have to stay conscious at least until she got back to the Sanctuary.
Stretching definitely didn't sound appealing. She felt like she could have cried in her frustration and exhaustion at the mere mention of it. In fact she'd almost prefer crying to how she felt right now. Almost. The threat of him having to help her through the stretches was also entirely unwelcome. She could do it herself, thank you very much. Eventually. If she could keep her balance.
With a tired sigh she started to stretch as directed, though her movements were painful and agonizingly slow. She wanted nothing more than to find her bedroom and crash. She could probably keep herself awake just long enough to get in and out of the shower and then sleep for hours and hours afterward.
"Alright already, I get the point," she whined as she straightened back up from a stretch, though her tone sounded more worn out than genuinely irritated. "Zephyr knows best and what he says goes. And any number of super satisfying face punches aren't going to do a damn thing in the end." Try as she might to muster the energy to sound angry or defiant in some way, it just wasn't possible. She was thoroughly run down and not at all looking forward to a repeat of such a godawful day.
I’m just a well-adjusted gal who likes to leave a serious amount of mayhem in her wake.
Silence of any sort was practically unheard of in Sanctuary. Given the sheer number and variety of individuals it housed there was always something on, whether it be a crazed Canadian killer riding an over sized monitor lizard as the vanguard of a horde of mutated creatures or merely an innocuous series of explosions, Sanctuary’s halls were never quiet.
Which is why it was probably best that, at 5:00am, the tenebrous peace in Isabel’s room was shattered by the sudden deep bass melody of a guitar echoing through the air. Who knows what kind of chaos could have occurred had the silence been allowed to fester much longer?
When at last the soubrettes ringtone died away, either due to passage of time or an actual answer, Zephyr spoke; his voice deliberately carrying a cheerful tone that was practically obnoxious for how early it was. “Ah Isabel, a pleasure to have you among the waking. I do hope you slept well because we’ve a good deal to do today.”
There was a brief pause as the elemental sipped his coffee and shifted the baseball cap he’d worn for today so the brim blocked the rising sun before continuing. “I’d like you to meet me by the truck in the usual alley in the next oh...” He raised the sleeves of the denim jacket he’d donned and glanced at his watch. “fifteen minutes? Try to wear something old.”
The elemental lowered the phone, paused as he considered what was most likely to happen and then added, “And no lollygagging please, unless you’d rather I come fetch you.”
Cafas: "Zephyr is the king of bad decisions, but if Sebby being weak to ghost is anything to go by, not so amazing at follow through."
The phone in Isabel's hand was nearly smashed to pieces when a particularly obnoxious and unwelcome voice issued from it. It took every shred of self restrain she had so early in the morning to do no more than mutter a few select curses before hanging up on the bastard that had woken her up. The minute she saw the time displayed on the thing's screen, however, the phone was unceremoniously tossed at the wall.
It should have been illegal to have to be out of bed so damned early, particularly following the terrible day she'd had the previous afternoon. Getting out of her bed was a struggle. Even after all the stretching she'd been forced to do as she wound down from the grueling exercises she'd been put through and a hot shower once she'd gotten back to the Sanctuary her muscles were still sore and protesting nearly every movement. There was no way today could be any better, especially not after being cautioned to wear something old.
She'd been given fifteen minutes before he'd come looking for her. So early in the morning she didn't care too much. She'd end up in that damned truck headed who knows where either way. In any case she did what she could not to 'lollygag' too much. She probably wouldn't make the deadline, but she wouldn't be too much longer.
No time for another shower, but she brushed her teeth quickly enough and ran a comb through her hair before rummaging in her closet to find something that'd fit his request. An old, ripped up pair of jeans and an equally as battered tee-shirt seemed appropriate enough so she pulled them on with minimal grumbling. The abused phone was retrieved and shoved into her pocket. The green hair ribbon was coming with her this time and found its usual place in her hair.
"You're a monster," she grumbled twenty-five minutes later as she slid into the passenger side seat of the truck and slammed the door shut. She propped one booted foot up on the dashboard and let her head fall back against the headrest as she settled in. Today was going to suck.
I’m just a well-adjusted gal who likes to leave a serious amount of mayhem in her wake.
One of the unspoken benefits of the elementals spatial awareness was that he could focus it in a particular direction in a manner not unlike a telescope. Although doing so typically cost him a measure of awareness of his surrounding environment, environment the technique was not without its particular uses. Case in point, he was able to tell just a few moments after his call that Isabel was indeed moving, if not perhaps as fast as he’d like. Since she was actually moving however he let her be; having the buxom brunette actually come when he called when still a novel concept and he would relish for as long as he could.
“You’re a monster.”
The elemental couldn’t help but roll his eyes as his petulant protégé grumbled and slouched into the passenger, slamming her door hard enough to actually rattle the glass. “Coming from you I’ll take that as a compliment.” He replied, not releasing his blithe cheer as he started the ignition and the truck rumbled into life. “There’s coffee in the cup holder and breakfast under the seat if you’re interested” he added, reversing without looking as he put the truck back on the road. “Try not to spill anything.”
Arriving back at the warehouse Zephyr took a moment to retrieve a bag from the bed of the truck before leading Isabel inside and swiftly motioned the girl towards the far end of the warehouse as he hit lights, dispelling the lingering gloom and revealing a the source of the hessians good cheer as the hum of halogen lights filled the air.
“I took the liberty of rearranging one or two items after you left” he began conversationally, striding past the shapely soubrette as he approached the mangled and still slightly smoking remains of a wrought iron shipping crate. “Imagine my surprise when I found that one of these things was not like the others.”
The elemental raised a hand and snapped his fingers conjuring a sudden gale which swept through the interior, collecting every mote of dust and loose speck of dirt as it went, becoming a veritable wave of detritus as it bore down on the two mutants only to part and pass over them a moment before it would have covered them in grime. In its wake though the wind had cleared the majority of the debris from the remains of the shipping crate, exposing the outline of a modest crater centred on what was clearly a collapsed tunnel entrance.
“Someone went to an awful lot of trouble to hide something.” The elemental leaned against another, mostly intact crate and folded his arms as he looked at Isabel expectantly. “I want to know what it was.”
“Start digging.”
Cafas: "Zephyr is the king of bad decisions, but if Sebby being weak to ghost is anything to go by, not so amazing at follow through."
Breakfast was certainly an unexpected surprise and while it was a nice idea it was still too early for Isabel to have much of an appetite. That and the prospect of having to run laps on a full stomach was entirely unappealing. Still she sipped at the offered coffee and ate about half of the bagel she discovered under the seat. Exercising on an empty stomach was almost as bad as the alternative. She also desperately needed the caffeine.
And back at the decrepit warehouse yet again. Zephyr apparently hadn't been kidding when he said she'd be spending a lot of time there, though a 5am start hadn't been anticipated. It might have been a more bearable concept to come to terms with if he had forced her there at a more humane hour of the day.
She yawned and acted thoroughly unimpressed as he blabbed on about some sort of discovery he'd made. A slight flinch was given when he swept aside all of the dirt and grime in the room. She had expected to be getting dirty from the request he'd made in her wardrobe choice, but getting covered in all that junk would have stung at such a velocity. Thankfully, though, he diverted the wave of dirt and she had a few more moments of cleanliness to enjoy.
A groan escaped her as the objective of their visit was revealed. Digging. She had to dig a goddamn hole. She knew for a fact that he could have shifted all that dirt himself if he really wanted to, but he was an immense jackass so he was gonna make her do it herself instead. This was so not what she wanted to be doing with her day, and in the end it could turn out to be nothing spectacular at all.
With a frown she approached the collapsed entrance and with a glare in Zephyr's direction she plopped down on the backside in front of her project, crossing her arms and then her legs indian style. He'd told her to dig, but he failed to specify exactly how she'd have to do it, and so she was going to at least try to get to it her own way before he potentially stopped her.
Her already ripped shirt was torn even more as her six spidery bone limbs wormed their way out of her skin, though this time instead of ending in points their tips flattened out into six spades. They could easy split into pincers if rocks or other large pieces of debris had to be moved out of the way. With an exaggerated sigh she set them to work sifting dirt and junk out of the way, each dumping their load into one of two piles on either side of the tunnel entrance.
I’m just a well-adjusted gal who likes to leave a serious amount of mayhem in her wake.
Keeping an oblique eye on the soubrette as she sat down and began her work Zephyr wandered over to a set of still relatively intact cargo containers. He’d originally been attempting to stack them against the front wall to inventory them later, given the rather… inordinate ordnance he’d encountered thus far, it would be prudent to exercise a certain measure of caution. While he could survive another explosion, that didn’t make the experience any less unpleasant.
That, and he’d only brought so many spare clothes.
The elemental paused at that thought, shifting his attention away from the containers as his head craned back towards Isabel. The girl appeared more bored than anything, glaring glumly at the gradually growing hole in front of her as her ossein appendages tore away at the mass of collapsed concrete, occasionally lifting the tattered ends of her shirt to reveal flashes of pale skin. Nothing to indicate whether her typical defenses were in place, which was both a blessing and a curse.
“I don’t know if I made this clear Isabel,” he called as he tried to catch her eye, “But I don’t have any reason to believe that the bomb I found is the only one. You might want something more than your usual armor.”
Cafas: "Zephyr is the king of bad decisions, but if Sebby being weak to ghost is anything to go by, not so amazing at follow through."
The rhythmic digging of the several bony extensions slowed for a moment at the mention of additional explosives that could be concealed who knew where within the warehouse. Accidentally striking a bomb was definitely something she'd like to avoid if there happened to be any stuck in the dirt or among the chunks of concrete that she had to work at shifting out of her way to access the soil. Leave it to Zephyr to stick her inside an exploding building.
"You couldn't have found all the bombs before dragging me here? I could have slept another couple of hours, you ass!" she spat as she twisted around to glower at him. Getting her out of bed at such and ungodly hour just to bring her somewhere that she could be blown up was a whole new kind of awful. Sleeping more would have been wonderful, but it paled in comparison to being able to complete her chore for the day without any kind of threat of bodily harm.
Grumbling, she turned back toward the dig site, the spades having stopped their work while she addressed the young man. With a huff she brought up her usual defenses, though instead of letting them stop beneath her skin she let the layer of bone coat it instead, giving herself a sort of form-fitting body suit at least an inch thick beneath her clothing. She couldn't gauge exactly how well it would do up against an explosive, but it would probably take at least the brunt of the damage.
"Until you find the damn things I'm not digging any more. I'm not gonna risk getting my face blown off for some stupid treasure hunt," she stated, her voice somewhat muffled behind a mesh of bone that resembled a fencing mask. Defiantly she crossed her arms again and planting the tip of each spade on either side of her.
Zephyr treated the ingénues outburst with silence, barely reacting as he leaned against one of the cargo crates and watched her with narrow eyes. He knew from experience that there was little point in trying to talk over the girl, and while he could have silenced her the elemental knew it would only serve to delay the inevitable tantrum the soubrette was building towards.
No, far better to let her vent and resolve the matter now while she was still manageable, rather than letting her foul mood fester into something more volatile. While the hessian doubted she’d be foolish enough to try and attack him, there wasn’t anything stopping her from releasing her frustrations on the building itself and tearing it down around their heads.
For all the gamines caviler complaints though the hessian couldn’t prevent the slight sense of gratification when a visible layer of ossein armor flowed across the brunettes skin, straining her torn attire even further as it covered her from head to toe like a living latex cat suit. The girl was learning to listen, if grudgingly.
That being said, there was always room for improvement, it simply required sufficient motivation.
“I see.” The elementals words were oddly apathetic as he idly removed a small cylinder from his jacket and tipped two small tablets into his hand. “Well, if you’re too scared to keep going I suppose there’s no helping it.” There was an ever so slight emphasis in the elementals words as he spoke and when Isabel’s back stiffened in response he couldn’t help but grin.
The girl had more buttons than a church organ.
Deftly swallowing the pair of pills in the silence of his first statement the hessian calmly carried on. “What was the name of that girl Phaust adopted, the little redhead? Katie wasn’t it?” Pulling out his phone Zephyr made a short show of scrolling through his contacts. “She might not have much in regards to finesse but she isn’t afraid of explosions, surprising for a ten year old really.”
Subtly increasing the volume on his phone the elemental slowly began to dial, drawing out each number to ensure Isabel could hear it and watching her twitch each time as he continued with just a faint taunting tone. “I’m sure she’ll be ecstatic to learn she can do something the fearsome Miss Duskmoor cannot.”
He raised the phone to his ear, and waited.
Cafas: "Zephyr is the king of bad decisions, but if Sebby being weak to ghost is anything to go by, not so amazing at follow through."
"She's not afraid of explode because she explodes," Isabel shot back, twisting around on the floor so she wouldn't have to crane her neck to see Zephyr as he dialed his phone, her bone spades click-clacking against the concrete as they shifted with her movement. "And I'm not afraid. But it's not exactly fun getting blown up." She knew. The two of them had had a bomb delivered to their hotel room when she'd been dragged along to the place where nothing else happened after that at all before they came back home completely untraumatized.
She knew he was just trying to bait her. He always tried to irritate or scare her when he wanted her to do something and declaring that he was going to invite a child along and embarrass her all at the same time was certainly an effective method. She wanted to bite in order to shut him up, but at the same time ignoring his efforts could potentially get a reaction as well. Either way she anticipated that she'd be made to keep digging, so why not continue to make it difficult for him?
"Fine. Be that way," she said, once again turning her back on him as he held his stupid phone to his dumb face. She even went as far as to recline onto her back, the spades shifting to criss-cross over her body as she did so in order to allow her to lie back without being inhibited too much. The mask over her face melted away and she heaved a sigh as she knit her fingers behind her head. "Go ahead and call the kid. I don't care. I hope she flattens this whole damn place when she gets here."
I’m just a well-adjusted gal who likes to leave a serious amount of mayhem in her wake.
Keeping a polite, if somewhat smug smile in place, Zephyr merely gave Isabel a condescending nod when the girl spun around to face him, taking no small amount of satisfaction from the look of frustration and indignation on her features. The gamine really was far too easy to lead; it was a shame in some ways as it limited what he could trust her with. Still he’d make us of it while he could, if for no other reason than it amused him to guide Duskmoor along like a blind puppet.
So when the girl abruptly spun back around and called his bluff, the elemental was surprised, impressed and slightly annoyed all at once. He’d never known the soubrette to willingly disregard a blow to her much vaunted reputation; granted he hadn’t been precisely subtle but it was still an indication of progress, even if it was in baby steps.
Still, he’d rather been banking on the ingénue caving to his provocations, and thus her refusal to play along left him at something of a loss, or it would have if he’d actually been foolish enough to dial Sanctuary.
‘This is Simon Smith, leave a message at the tone.’
Ignoring the urge to roll his eyes at he was about to do Zephyr adopted his cheerful cadence from earlier as the answering machine gave its signal. “Ah good morning Lisa, why am I not surprised to find you at your desk at this hour?” Shifting his gaze back to Isabel he tried to gauge her reaction as he continued, “I was hoping you might do me a favour…”
After leaving himself a suitably convincing message inquiring as to the youngest Phausts whereabouts Zephyr lowered his phone and gave his indolent protégé a measuring look as he pocketed the device. “Now then, what to do with you? Since you’re already here but you don’t want to dig we may as well start on your exercise. 50 laps of the warehouse should do.”
Cafas: "Zephyr is the king of bad decisions, but if Sebby being weak to ghost is anything to go by, not so amazing at follow through."
Isabel pretended she couldn't hear Zephyr speaking into his phone. She lifted one leg and placed it atop the opposite knee, the limb bouncing lazily as she affected an attitude devoid of concern that a certain child might be joining them in the wake of some injury the the bone manipulator's pride. She bit her tongue to keep herself from trying to talk over him as he spoke into the phone. She was supposed to be uninterested, so spouting denials was detrimental to her act.
Her leg stopped bouncing as she was addressed and the suggestion was made that instead of digging she could do laps again. Running wasn't any better than digging, especially since she knew he wouldn't allow her to sprint with any aid from her mutation. No, she was much more comfortable reclining on the cold floor and pretending not to worry about what he was getting up to was much nicer than jumping at every command he gave.
She gave a huff and the crossed limbs promptly began to fuse together and form a small dome over her, long enough to fit her body with her knees bent as they were and low enough only to allow one body inside. Her hands shifted to either side of her head and clamped down over her ears. "I can't hear you," she sing-songed from inside the enclosure. She hadn't felt any need to run just yet and so she was going to stall for as long as possible, even if he didn't like it. Denying his taunting about the younger girl was enough to get her rolling and if he wanted to ruin another day for her, then she fully intended on being as difficult as possible yet again.
I’m just a well-adjusted gal who likes to leave a serious amount of mayhem in her wake.
One of these days Isabel would be able to move on from infantile antics.
As he stared at the oval shaped dome in the center of the warehouse’s crater and heard the ingénues singsong chant of defiance though, the elemental knew that it would not be this day, nor any day in the near future. As he withdrew his phone and pulled up Duskmoors number though, he found that for now, he didn’t quite mind.
There’s a reason church bells are as loud as they are you see, their domed shape traps the air inside and as a result any vibrations, such as ringtones, build and amplify each other in much the same way a voice echoes through a canyon. What many people don’t realize, or tend to over look is that, as loud as a bell can be on the outside, the volume more than triples on the inside.
Granted, Isabel’s shell wasn’t quite a bell but the principle was still the same nonetheless. He was doing her a favour really; the soubrette clearly hadn’t had the benefit of a high school education so she’d never been given the opportunity to properly acquaint herself with the various branches of science. She was going to learn a valuable lesson today.
The warehouse. The goddamned warehouse. Again. And yet again at the ungodliest of morning hours. Isabel had been surprised to see that the sun had even risen by the time she'd dragged herself out of the Sanctuary and down the the truck that was idling in the usual spot. With the usual jackass behind the wheel. Needless to say she'd changed the ringtone on her phone to something much quieter, though it still seemed far too sufficient at waking her up. Maybe she'd begin shutting it off before she crawled into bed from now on and attempt to give herself a little more peace and quiet before she was forced from her bed.
She'd been told that they'd be working on something a little different this time around. This led her to believe that she wouldn't be subjected to anymore digging and hopefully she wouldn't have to be doing any more laps around the interior of the decrepit hellhole either. Anything was better than running so early in the morning, though the fact that it was Zephyr that had been making the statements still made it somewhat suspicious.
Another coffee had been accepted and downed a little too quickly, leaving her tongue and the roof of her mouth smarting as they gradually cooled down from the mild burns they'd received. Breakfast had been refused. She wasn't hungry yet and it'd still be in the truck later if she changed her mind. She didn't want to risk upsetting her stomach before she knew what they were doing. The slight nausea she felt after another night of drinking by herself didn't help the situation much, either.
As soon as she was ushered into the building, she sidled to the right side of the door and promptly slid down the dirty wall and onto the floor. She'd been told to wear old clothing again, so the grime didn't bother her much. Leaning her head back against the wall she stifled a yawn as she glowered at the general area. "You are the worst kind of person."
I’m just a well-adjusted gal who likes to leave a serious amount of mayhem in her wake.
The past few weeks had finally started to fall into something of a routine. Every other morning Zephyr would park the same worn down pickup truck in a blind alley behind sanctuary shortly before dawn. He’d then call Isabel to wake her, after which he’d have 15-30 minutes to read the morning papers before the soubrette shambled into the car and they’d be on their way.
The journey itself nearly always passed in silence, or as close as one could get with the trucks ancient carburetors and their incessant droning, which did nothing for the elementals constant migraines and often prompted him to take his morning ‘medication’ if he’d not done so already. Duskmoor meanwhile tended to either nurse her morning dose of caffeine or would somehow let the engine lull her back to sleep.
Upon reaching the warehouse Zephyr generally proceeded to have the gamine literally run herself into the ground over 2-3 hours while he finished the morning papers and jotted down anything of particular note. Admittedly the process wasn’t quite that smooth as Isabel would often begin whining before the first hour had finished but she rarely had the breath to keep it up for long.
This time though the hessian was going to try something different, he’d actually wanted to broaden the ingénue training somewhat sooner, but after her poor behavior following the digging episode he’d decided to give the girl time to… appreciate her current schedule.
When he stepped inside and saw the soubrette almost immediately slide down the nearest wall , raising her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms about her legs, he began to wonder whether he should have perhaps waited another week. Especially when the buxom brunette gave one of the longest yawns he’d ever seen and glared at him balefully from red shot eyes before announcing, yet again, his apparently abhorrent contribution to the human race.
It was almost tradition.
Well, not quite, the bloodshot eyes were a new feature though considering what he’d smelled on her breath during the drive over the hessian wouldn’t say he was surprised. Still he refrained from commenting, there hadn’t been any news of massacres or unusual property damage thus far and so until it became a problem he didn’t see any need to ban the girl from drinking.
“Good morning to you as well Isabel.” His words were blithe as always, carrying neither offence nor amusement as he lowered the two duffel bags he’d carried from the car down beside a simple folding table set up nearby. “On your feet if you please, we’re going to try something a little different today.”
Lifting the first duffel bag with a slight effort Zephyr set it down on the table and spent a few moments sorting through its contents as he spoke. “If you recall a week or so ago you started digging a tunnel for me and for most of that time you wore your armor above your skin.”
A small sack containing what appeared to be green marbles was withdrawn from the duffel bag along with an oddly shaped jar with pipe jutting from one side. “I’d like you to raise that same armor now and if possible I’d like it to cover your clothes as well.”