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.
Staring blankly at the book in his hand Zephyr tracked Isabel’s progress out of the corner of his eye. He’d learned rather quickly that the buxom brunette didn’t appreciate having others hover over her while she worked.
Especially when she didn’t know what she was doing.
Following up on his promise from their last meeting he’d called, or rather bribed, the soubrette down to the Orders training room almost two hours ago and had set her down at a simple metal table lined with a collection of delicate tools. A few short minutes had been spent describing the purpose of each one before he’d drawn a crude, but still serviceable, Russian restraining collar from a duffle bag and proceeded to use the aforementioned tools to take deftly pry the device apart in under than a minute.
After that, the elemental had drawn a second collar from the bag and told Isabel to have at it.
At which point she’d turned her fist into a sledgehammer and promptly crushed the machine into so much scrap.
The third collar had suffered a similar fate, the fourth however lasted almost ten minutes as the girl tried, and failed to mimic the hessians earlier efforts to dismantle it. He’d had to chastise her for cheating when she’d tried to use her mutation to take the thing apart at which point she’d simply hurled the collar against the far wall.
She was now on the fifth collar, which had somehow managed to outlast the twenty minute mark, leaving Zephyr to privately wonder how many more times the girl would lose her temper before she thought to ask for help.
Well actually no, he didn’t. The answer was five which, coincidentally, was just how many collars he had left.
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."
This was stupid. So very, very stupid. This was not what Isabel had planned to do with her afternoon. Not that she'd actually had plans per se, but if she had being locked in the training room with a certain someone trying to pry apart some godawful piece of hardware definitely wouldn't have made her list. Especially not when the hardware was a shock collar.
She hadn't exactly meant to smash the first one. It was sort of a knee jerk reaction. The second one was not so much of an accident. It certainly was effective, though. Way more effective that trying to take the damn thing apart piece by piece anyway. She'd reduced it to nothing much faster than Zephyr had, but apparently he wasn't so impressed by her tactics. He also, apparently, had a whole sack full of the damn things. She wasn't so sure she wanted to know how he'd gotten them, but it unnerved her.
Scolded for trying to use her mutation, which she was much more adept at utilizing than the damn tools he'd brought, scolded for smashing the things, scolded for throwing one. She just couldn't win. Having him hovering nearby wasn't helping, either. Lounging all smug-like with his damn book while she suffered. She had a few ideas as to where she'd like to put the current collar, but she knew for sure he wouldn't like that very much.
She heaved a sigh for perhaps the hundredth time as she swapped one tool for another and attempted to pry something away from the collar's body. She had already forgotten what half of the things were supposed to do and she'd hardly been able to follow the demonstration she'd been given to take the collar apart. He'd made it look a lot easier than she was finding it to actually be. Every time she thought she'd figured out how to remove something it inevitably remained stubbornly in place or on one or two occasions broke away from the machine in what she was sure wasn't the correct way.
"I don't wanna do this anymore," she whined, shoving the collar and the tools to the far side of the table where several of them stopped just shy of rolling off the edge and onto the floor. She'd decided that five was her limit, and she wouldn't spend more than half an hour trying to force the thing apart. "I can't figure the stupid thing out the way you want me to. Smashing it is so much easier." She folded her arms and leaned back in her chair, glowering at the collection of hardware. She was so done. If he wanted it apart, he could do it himself.
I’m just a well-adjusted gal who likes to leave a serious amount of mayhem in her wake.
Giving his own sigh, Zephyr closed his book with a soft snap as he turned to meet Isabel’s morose gaze. “Smashing them might be easier yes, but it’s far from a feasible solution.” He told her in a somewhat weary tone, “How are you going to smash them if you’re somehow caught again? Your power is amazing versatile Isabel but you can’t rely on it for everything.”
Slipping the thin volume into his jack pocket Zephyr brought his chair back round to the gamines work table, sweeping aside some of the electronic detritus with his foot before taking a seat opposite the ingénue as he regarded both her and collar resting on the now slightly dented table.
“If you really want to go I won’t stop you.” He rolled his eyes and held up a hand as the soubrette immediately started to rise. “Hear me out first, I won’t force you to stay but I thought this was something you wanted to learn?” he asked, posing the question without disdain or disappointment. “You didn’t even want to come down until I told you we’d be dismantling the collars, have you really changed your mind?” He searched her face as he talked trying to catch her gaze or find some form of answer as she stayed silent.
“It’s not easy, I know that.” He continued as he picked one of the few remaining collars and set it down next to the soubrettes. “Nothing worth knowing ever is, but you’re allowed to ask for help.” He paused for a moment and his eyes fell to the two collars as he considered his next words before he glanced back up.
“You shouldn’t be afraid to ask me for help Isabel. The worst I can do is say no, but I think you may be pleasantly surprised. Now…” He picked up one of the collars in one hand and a thin screw driver with the other before gesturing for the girl to do the same.
“Let’s make you never have to worry about these again, just follow copy me and we’ll go through it step by step. What do you say?”
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 grimaced as she was halted halfway out of her chair and cast a longing look at the door while she settled back into her seat. He said he wouldn't stop her, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't have to hear what he had to say eventually. And loathe as she was to admit it, he did have a point. She really, truly did want to learn how to take one of these things apart somehow, to be able to get out of one if she was ever unfortunate enough to be stuck in one again. And figuring out how to do so without her mutation was pretty much the only way to do it, since preventing the use of mutations was the whole purpose of the collar in the first place.
She settled into a sulk as her gaze fell back on the table. Asking for help was not something she did. She hardly ever needed help since the kinds of problems she usually had could be solved by a well placed bone spike and a quick getaway if necessary. Zephyr was also the last person she ever wanted to request assistance from after all the nonsense he'd put her through, though it was getting slightly easier to deal with him since her utter loathing of him had slowly eased away for one reason or another. He was at least a little more tolerable to be stuck with. But only for a little while.
She hesitated as he collected a collar and screwdriver for himself and offered to show her how to dismantle it once again, though this time allowing her to follow along instead of just watching and struggling on her own. She really didn't want to accept the offer, but it would probably be the last time he tried to drag her down to the training room for it specifically. It was probably better to just bite the bullet and get it over with. And at least he wasn't being outright condescending anymore, but seemed to be genuinely interested in assisting her, which was admittedly a pleasant change of pace.
"Oh alright," she replied in a rather exasperated way, leaning forward in her chair to collect a collar and a screwdriver that she hoped was similar enough to the one he'd grabbed. "The faster I get this done the faster I can leave."
I’m just a well-adjusted gal who likes to leave a serious amount of mayhem in her wake.
A sudden rumble shook the air, causing the floor to tremble and forcing Zephyr to tear his eyes away from the screen before him for a split second as he took in the city scape below, his gaze sweeping over the collective mob in the streets and the pillars of smoke rising from cars and storefronts alike before he caught sight of the deluge of dust as the corner of a nearby office building collapsed.
The city was officially in a state of anarchy. The riots had begun barely two hours ago and in that time the NYPD had proved how truly ill equipped they were to deal with mass mutant offenders. By all accounts thus far only the 37th precinct had managed to make any headway in restoring order and that was only because it housed the MRC division.
Funny how much easier it was to deal with mutants when you had some on your side.
Still that wasn’t the elemental’s concern, he had far more important matters to attend to; appalling and devastating as the riots might be, they also presented a prime opportunity for anyone willing to take advantage. Even now the NYSE and NASDAQ were tumbling and the hessian was doing his best to capitalize on it.
What was the old axiom? Buy low, sell high? Well, prices wouldn’t be much lower than this for some time. Real estate values would end up taking a hit as well but they wouldn’t really reach rock bottom until there’d been a chance to survey the damage.
Switching his gaze back to his laptop Zephyr settled himself back in the lawn chair he’d dragged up to Sanctuary’s roof, or rather the one he’d had Duskmoor drag up for him. Speaking of which…
He checked on the girls position and noted that she’d once again moved a few feet closer to the roofs edge while he’d been distracted.
“Don’t even think about it Isabel, get your chair back here and behave.”
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 was the most unfair thing in the history of unfair things that Zephyr had inflicted upon Isabel. There was a full-blown riot happening practically on the Sanctuary's doorstep and she wasn't allowed to go and join in. This was the most exciting thing that had happened in the area in months and she was stuck watching it. He'd even made her climb up to the roof with him where she could see everything happening down below, a move probably made purely to torment her.
She couldn't help scooting her chair further and further away from Zephyr whenever he became engrossed in the work he was doing with his laptop. She was getting restless and giddy with all the excitement happening down below and try as she might she just couldn't sit still. She'd probably have been hanging over the edge of the roof by this point if he hadn't kept calling her back to her original spot just about every time he looked away from his screen. It was like he was determined to keep her within arm's reach in case she tried to make a run for it or something. Which was something she'd certainly thought of doing more and more frequently as the minutes ticked by.
With an exaggerated groan she stood and grabbed the back of her chair and dragged it back over next to his before plopping back down in the seat with some dramatics. It wasn't too long before she was at the edge of the seat, though, knees bouncing up and down and her feet nearly jogged in place and her body leaned forward to see as much of the chaos as she possibly could from her vantage point.
This was so unfair.
"Pleeeeeeease?" she pleaded once again, having banked on her falsely improved manners to gain her some leeway with the tyrant, though so far it hadn't gone as planned. She planted an elbow on the arm of his lawn chair and leaned her weight to that side so she could see his screen, though whatever was on it hardly meant a thing to her. "This is so boring and unfair. Why can't I go and play with everyone else?" she whined, a pout sliding onto her face as she spoke.
It was getting a little easier to deal with his body in closer proximity to her own after being forced to deal with him as often as she was, though only on her terms which largely consisted of testing her limits to annoy him or on the rare occasion to catch him off guard and try to exploit any surprise to her advantage. Verbal annoyances didn't seem to be getting her very far, though. He was much too good at tuning her out when he really wanted to, but with everything going on she was hoping that he'd get distracted or fed up enough with her that he'd slip up somehow and she could make a getaway. Once she was out, he'd be hard pressed to find her in the crowd and she could always hole up in her room for a couple of days in hopes that he'd leave her alone afterward.
"I wanna goooooo," she whined, dropping her head heavily onto his shoulder as she tugged at his sleeve and regretting it almost immediately. The guy was bony as hell. Ignoring the sudden throb near her temple, she continued to tug at his sleeve, hoping to disrupt his work and push him to the point of dismissing her in order to get some peace and manage something productive. She'd deal with the embarrassment over her behavior later. A scalding shower and a bottle of liquor would probably do the trick. Pleeeeeeeaase?"
I’m just a well-adjusted gal who likes to leave a serious amount of mayhem in her wake.
Scrolling through a multitude of different screens Zephyr’s hands darted back and forth across the keyboard as he tried to keep pace with the markets mercurial mood swings. What he needed was another monitor and not for the first time he cursed himself for indulging Duskmoors constant whining and moving both of them from the library to roof so that she could at least ‘see the fun’.
The reprieve had lasted all of ten minutes as the soubrettes slowly grew wider and wider as she took in the chaos and carnage coursing through the city and she began to literally bounce in her seat as her excitement got the better of her. If it had been any other day, her practically childlike enthusiasm would likely have been quite entertaining. The bouncing in particular was causing rather… interesting things to happen in the vicinity of the brunettes already strained shirt and only served to highlight her already buxom figure.
Unfortunately, this was the day he stood to make a small fortune in the stock market and so his eyes stayed firmly on the screen before him as he scanned the masses of numbers and tracked the plummeting stock prices of various entities, his attention flickering back to his petulant protégé ever few seconds as he used his sixth sense to keep tabs on her.
"Pleeeeee-"
“No.” he replied, cutting the soubrette off for what had be the fifth time in as many minutes so that the response had become almost automatic.
"This is so boring and unfair. Why can't I go and play with everyone else?"
“You asked to come up here Isabel, ”Actually she’d begged him, all but getting down on her knees as she used her surprisingly childish fervor to plead with him to at least see what was happening. Still he knew better than to acknowledge it for what it was, doing so would only be tantamount to pouring fuel on a fire and gamine was proving troublesome enough already. “and I agreed on the stipulation that you would be quiet”
“As for why; the city already enough to deal with, the last thing it is for you to turn it into a charnel house.” That, and the National Guard would be arriving sooner rather than later. Strong as the soubrette was he didn't want to test how she’d fare against armor piercing rounds, or even worse the Stalkers. If those mechanical monstrosities somehow crawled out of whatever decrepit hell they’d been sentenced to he was going to drag both Isabel and Maya out of state, kicking and screaming if need be.
Again though he knew better than to say as much, although he'd done his best to beat it down, Duskmoors ego rivaled his own and she’d likely take his words as a challenge and become even more unmanageable.
Still, with his part said he resolved to tune the girl out for the next few minutes; creating an egg shell thin vacuum around his ears and effectively cutting off all sound as he once again absorbed himself in the world of electronic commerce-
Only to be rather rudely interrupted when something hard and unyielding fell on his shoulder, jarring him from his thoughts, annoying as it was though he knew the girl was being deliberately juvenile and so he ignored her. When she started tugging on his sleeve and made it damn near impossible to type anything however he gave a short sigh of irritation and dropped his carefully crafted shell of silence just in time to hear.
“Pleeeeeeeaase"
There was silence for a few short moments as the girl’s plea died away then, ever so slowly, the elementals neck turned to look at the buxom brunette, her head still resting on his shoulder as she sullenly met his gaze and pouted.
Without saying a word Zephyr lowered his head towards her until they were only a few scant inches apart, to the point where, even with the riots, he could hear when the shapely soubrette suddenly held her breath and saw just how far her amber eyes widened as he leaned in and-
Flicked her nose.
“No.”
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."
Posted by Isabel on Jun 4, 2013 18:12:17 GMT -6
Cheshire likes this
The Syndicate
Soldier of The Syndicate
grey
Straight
Never
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Mar 15, 2022 21:07:28 GMT -6
Isabel
Moving to the roof had been her idea, that much was true. But in her defense Isabel had never expected that he'd actually fold and allow her to drag him up there. And now that she was up there she didn't want to stay. She wanted to keep going right over the edge of the roof and into the chaos regardless of what Zephyr thought her contribution would do the the mess. And he'd already given into one of her requests with enough whining and pestering, so who was to say that it wouldn't work a second time if she was persistent enough?
It was perfectly logical. The only problem was all the no's she kept getting.
At least she seemed to have finally gotten his attention. Preventing him from typing all that gibberish on his laptop seemed to have been an effective tactic. She hoped being a big enough pest would prompt him to tell her to go back inside if she couldn't behave. There was no way he'd simply tell her to go away in general. He had an annoying habit of being very specific when he wanted her to do something. But that was the whole point of being a nuisance, to try and ruin that habit momentarily. If she could just get him to tell her to go inside or something along those lines, then she could easily do so, but only for as long as it took her to reach the front doors.
She could feel his posture shifting and tilted her head back to look up and see if he was finally paying some proper attention to her. She slid a pout onto her features and adopted a thoroughly depressed manner, trying her hand at looking sad and pathetic to see if it would do anything in her favor.
But instead of sighing and giving in to her demands or ordering her away, he decided to close some of the distance between their faces, effectively catching her off guard and wiping the pout off her face as she all but froze like a deer in the headlights. This was certainly not on her terms and she didn't like it one bit.
A yelp of surprise escaped her and one hand shot up to rub at her nose in an attempt to ease the sudden stinging there. "You're an ass!" she accused as he pulled back away from her, a self-satisfied smirk on his face she was sure. Now he was just trying to make her mad.
A scowl replaced the former pout as her glare fell down to the keyboard. Briefly she wondered what would happen if she reached over and pressed the power button, but knowing him he'd probably saved his work methodically every so often, so the effort wouldn't amount to much. Stabbing him certainly wasn't an option, or trying to kill him with any other methods for that matter. It was way too easy for him to overpower her and with the leeway she'd gained already she didn't want to ruin it all so quickly.
Shifting her glare back up to his smug face she mulled a few things over in her mind. She was absolutely determined to get away from him and down into the riots. She could definitely pull something underhanded and completely over the top if she really had to. And if that awful dream actually was a glimpse into the future, she had some idea of what she was capable of once she got used to the idea. And learned to control her gag reflex.
With a huff she wriggled around in her chair until her collar bone nearly touched his shoulder, determinedly keeping the red out of her face as much as she possibly could. Releasing his sleeve she reached her arm over and grabbed his chin to force his face back in her direction and before she had the chance to hesitate or change her mind she closed the distance between them and pressed her lips against his.
If her plan worked and she successfully caught him off guard, as soon as she pulled away from him she'd slam her fist into his face and make a break for the edge of the roof, as it was the fastest route of escape available to her. If it didn't work out, she might just hurl herself over the edge anyway to avoid the utter embarrassment that would come from any other reaction he could offer.
She'd need a scalding shower and several bottles of liquor after this.
I’m just a well-adjusted gal who likes to leave a serious amount of mayhem in her wake.
Leaning back in his chair with no small amount of satisfaction Zephyr couldn’t quite help the slight smirk which crept across his lips at the soubrette’s unexpectedly tame curse and the hessian couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow as he looked at her questioningly. “You almost sound disappointed Isabel, were you hoping for something else?” he asked in a tone so innocent it wouldn’t have fooled a child. As was demonstrated a moment later when the gamine simply scowled in response, for once at a loss for words, leaving the elemental to simply chuckle as he returned to his earlier work.
One of the little known facts about Duskmoor was that, for all her violence and vitriol, the brunette had something of an Achilles heel regarding intimacy, becoming little more than a blushing violet for a few short seconds before her natural rage resumed. It was a card the elemental tried (and failed) to avoid playing too frequently, but to the gamines credit she had been getting better about it recently, still he’d likely just bought himself half an hours worth of peace if not more constant fidgeting notwithstanding.
At least, that was what he thought until he felt something, two something’s really, pressed up against his chest with a rather pleasant firmness at the same time something gripped his jaw and he found himself once again staring straight at his shapely protégé just as she rammed her lips against his hard enough to knock his head back against the seat in what could only be described as a tooth jarring kiss.
It wasn’t romantic, it certainly wasn’t seductive, in fact he was fairly sure the girl had torn open his lip. None of that however made it any less unexpected and when Isabel abruptly pulled away half a second later the elemental found himself simply staring at her nonplussed, and as the gamine raised her fist he couldn’t help but think one thing.
He clearly hadn’t been teasing her enough.
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 was in trouble. Well, she didn't know for a fact that she was, but after a certain stunt she'd pulled a week or so prior she was pretty sure it was just a matter of time before she ran into a certain windbag with a black eye and a busted lip. It was pretty likely that he wouldn't be very happy when she finally ran across him.
The riots had been a blast. She'd thoroughly enjoyed herself and made sure that she left her own personal mark amidst all the chaos, something that Zephyr had insisted that she not do. But she hadn't been so happy about that, so she'd found a way for herself to join in on the fun. She was actually pretty proud of herself for handling it as well as she had. After she'd gotten over the slight mortification after the fact. That shower and the pilfered alcohol had helped to some degree as hoped. The bottles and cans still littered the floor in her room, as she couldn't be bothered cleaning them up just yet.
Well, partially laziness, but also an unwillingness to spend any more time roaming the Sanctuary or the streets more than necessary. She knew that Zephyr had been to her room once before after a rather unfortunate series of events, but she was hoping that he'd forgotten exactly where it was since then. Though the fact that she's carved her name into her door probably ruined any chance of that. But even if he did find her, he'd still have to get through the door and she wasn't exactly eager to open it for him.
And so she'd settled for rereading one of her books for the hundredth time as she huddled under a pile of blankets in her pajamas and prepared for another long day of being a shut-in. At times like these she found herself really missing her large red bodyguard companion.
I’m just a well-adjusted gal who likes to leave a serious amount of mayhem in her wake.
The mutant riots which had taken over the city had finally begun to wind down during the past few days and as with all senseless violence it came with a cost. Hundreds, human and mutant alike, had died in the ensuing chaos and while the city hadn’t been burnt to the ground, more than a few mutants had taken the opportunity to try their hands at demolition work.
The destruction wasn’t what bothered the elemental though, quite the opposite actually; the destruction meant that he’d manage to acquire a number of properties he’d previously had his eye one for rather reasonable, rock bottom prices.
No what bothered Zephyr was the fact that, when he’d gotten his morning paper, he’d been greeted by Isabels bloody countenance on the front page sitting atop an article decrying the ‘Mutant Extremists’ responsible for the ‘wave of terror’ that had consumed the city, while simultaneously urging for a return to the era of the registration camps.
In all honesty he couldn’t even say he was surprised that the girl had managed to once again make herself a spectacle on national news. A part of him had long resigned itself to the fact that the soubrettes utter lack of subtlety and volatile behavior made her an ideal scapegoat for practically any angel the media wanted to sell.
Another part of him however specifically, the one that recalled the black eye he’d gotten a week earlier, was… less than pleased, by the gamines audacity. Granted he’d been able to reverse the damage fairly easily and he hadn’t been down for more than a few minutes, but it had been more than enough time for the brunette to mingle with Rioters and vanish amongst the chaos.
At least, until now.
He knew he had her the moment he passed through Sanctuary’s infamous golden doors. Even from two floors away it was far too simple to make out the tell tale pattern of breath from within the gamines room. None of the other residents would have dared entered her room while she was away, let alone lie on her bed.
It took the elemental less than five minutes to make his way from the lobby to the sub basement level where Isabel resided. And once he arrived there was no mistaking the door carved with her own name and decorated with a mixture of spikes and police tape which served as both warning and threat to the other inhabitants.
Zephyr however couldn’t care less. Barely even pausing to focused his will, the elemental stalked down the hall straight towards the gamines door and exhaled just before he would have rammed into it, becoming little more than a transparent mist which slipped beneath the gap between floor and door as he darted inside.
He reformed a few scant seconds later, leaning adroitly on the other side of the door straight in front of the soubrette with his arms folded and a dark expression on his face as he waited for the girl to notice him.
She wasn’t going to enjoy this.
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 had been expecting a knock on the door at any moment within a relatively short time after the riots had begun to settle and she'd taken to holing up in her room. Maybe even pounding at the door, shouting or calm threats to open it before it was broken down or unlocked from the outside. She hadn't expected anyone to slip in silently without her being any the wiser.
She'd nearly finished the chapter in her book when something caught her eye. Not exactly movement per se, but more of a shift in the light or a sudden shadow. Her eyes drifted lazily upward to peer over the top of the book and toward the perceived disturbance. It took a second before her brain caught up with what she was seeing.
A surprised shout filled the room and in her hurry to get up off the bed her blankets got in the way and she wound up toppling to the floor beside it where she struggled to her feet and shoved the blankets away from her to free up her movement. She kicked her book under the bed as she moved, not wanting to wind up stepping on it by accident.
"Are you crazy?" she shouted, her gaze shifting between him and the door. She hadn't even heard the locks click or the knob turn, though by the looks of it the bolts that she'd thrown hadn't been touched. Three or four of the seven deadbolts were still firmly in place, just as she'd left them. "What the hell are you doing in here? This is my room! Ever hear of a thing called knocking? Aren't you the one that's always bugging me about manners?"
It was a damn good thing she hadn't been in the shower when he'd barged in. It was bad enough that he'd caught her in her pajamas. She didn't know what she'd have done if he'd cornered her in her birthday suit and slipping in the tub would have been a disaster. At least like this she could attempt to make a getaway if necessary without being completely mortified.
"Get outta my goddamn room!" she shouted again, focusing on being offended instead of worrying about why exactly he'd let himself in, though she suspected her fears were going to be confirmed judging by the look on his battered face. "This is my room! You have no right to be in here! Get out!"
I’m just a well-adjusted gal who likes to leave a serious amount of mayhem in her wake.
A faint ghost of a smile tugged at the elemental lips as Duskmoor all but leapt out of her skin and fell from the bed when she finally caught sight of him. It wasn’t often that he used his abilities to intrude, but when he did, the reaction was almost always priceless.
Sadly though the gamines shock didn’t last long, and though he could see the fear and confusion in her eyes as her amber gazed darted between him and locked door at his back, she quickly fell back into character; trying to hide her fright behind anger and false bluster as she always did. Idly the hessian wondered if she was even aware of doing before the thought vanished as he caught her words and his grin faded
“Manners?” He whispered with dark amusement, eyes narrowingly dangerously as he stared the girl down from his post. “Do you really want to try that with me Duskmoor? After what you pulled?”
Rather wisely, the soubrette quickly dropped subject and tried to find a new avenue for her shallow indignation, yet after several tense seconds she all she could manage were petulant cries and impotent demands which had about as much chance as a spark in a monsoon.
“My my,” He replied the cold smile returning, “aren’t you the pretty little hypocrite? Tell me, why should I respect your wishes when you care nothing for others?” He shook his head, cobalt eyes never leaving her gaze as he drew in a breath and slowly exhaled. “No Duskmoor, if you want me gone…”
The overhead lights flickered and died as a switch on the bedside wall abruptly flipped of its own accord, throwing the room into utter darkness.
“You’ll have to do it yourself.”
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 decided she liked his smug grin a lot more than his blank, threatening stare. At least while he was smiling he seemed more inclined to chat even if the chatter was nothing more than teasing and tormenting. A blank expression could mean anything, and in this case it couldn't mean anything good.
A small squeak escaped as her room was suddenly plunged into darkness. Since she was on the ground level there were no windows in her room and therefore no chance of light leaking in. The hallways were lit, but not so brightly that the cracks between the door an her wall offered her very much assistance and she was much too old for things like nightlights. She couldn't see in the dark, but she was fairly certain he had ways of compensating for himself.
"Don't you get mad at me!" she threatened even as she backed up into the wall behind her, wanting to cover her back and try to eliminate the possibility of him sneaking up behind her. "I could have tried to kill you after that punch but I didn't. I didn't even think about it. And technically I wasn't fighting you since you weren't hitting back or anything. And you said you didn't wanna see me making a mess, and so you didn't."
She was grasping at straws, but anything that might give the young man pause was to her advantage. She didn't think she'd broken any rules, and really how could he expect her to behave herself when there was such a magnificent party going on without her? He knew her. He should have known better.
And now he had violated her private space and was refusing to leave unless she was able to force him out herself. That would be next to impossible and he knew it, but she'd be damned if she didn't give it a shot.
Scowling she called up her hidden armor and from there had dozens of spikes sprouting from her skin, the lack of her normal coverage giving her a little more leeway in terms of movement and afforded less damage to the clothing she was wearing. Feeling her way into a corner she began lengthening the spines rapidly while at the same time forming a protective barrier around herself in the shape of a diamond that would fit neatly into the crease of the corner and cover her head to toe. She'd allow the spines to spread throughout the room, caring little about damaging her sparse furniture. Her only concern was figuring out how to get him the hell out of her room and keeping him as far away from her until she could.
I’m just a well-adjusted gal who likes to leave a serious amount of mayhem in her wake.
Resting calmly inside the soubrettes bathroom Zephyr’s eyes were closed as he focused his attention on his spatial awareness to follow Duskmoors actions far more clearly than his eyes ever could in the darkness.
He’d put the brunette on the defensive, that in itself wasn’t surprising; she was blind, scared and out of her depth. He’d even had some idea of how she’d react once she got her wits together, yet the speed with which she created her cage and scattered her spikes spoke of a routine so practiced it was almost reflex, which raised a number of questions in and of itself.
Still, that particular line of thought would have to wait. It wouldn’t take the gamine long to realize she’d missed him, and even less time after that before she extended her efforts to the bathroom. He needed to keep her off balance and to do that he needed her out of that cage.
A swift scan of the brunettes room revealed a rather limited number of options, none of which were ideal. As the seconds ticked by however the hessian eventually sighed before drawing his arm back in a slow wrenching motion which grasped the ingénues discarded blankets, tearing them free of the various spikes that had pinned them in place and piling around the base of the girls’ diamond shaped prison.
Barely a heart beat later, a tiny, candle sized flame burst into life as the elemental tossed one of his lighters across and into the mass of cloth which rapidly began to smolder and then smoke as the fire took hold.
Had anyone aside from Zephyr been able to see precisely what was happening they might have wondered just what in the hell the hessian was thinking. Had they been just a tad more observant though they might have also wondered why the flames weren’t spreading beyond Duskmoors corner but instead seemed to be trapped inside a translucent dome that was quickly filling with smoke.
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."