The X-men run missions and work together with the NYPD, striving to maintain a peaceful balance between humans and mutants. When it comes to a fight, they won't back down from protecting those who need their help.
Haven presents itself as a humanitarian organization for activists, leaders, and high society, yet mutants are the secret leaders working to protect and serve their kind. Behind the scenes they bring their goals into reality.
From the time when mutants became known to the world, SUPER was founded as a black-ops division of the CIA in an attempt to classify, observe, and learn more about this new and rising threat.
The Syndicate works to help bring mutantkind to the forefront of the world. They work from the shadows, a beacon of hope for mutants, but a bane to mankind. With their guiding hand, humanity will finally find extinction.
Since the existence of mutants was first revealed in the nineties, the world has become a changed place. Whether they're genetic misfits or the next stage in humanity's evolution, there's no denying their growing numbers, especially in hubs like New York City. The NYPD has a division devoted to mutant related crimes. Super-powered vigilantes help to maintain the peace. Those who style themselves as Homo Superior work to tear society apart for rebuilding in their own image.
MRO is an intermediate to advanced writing level original character, original plot X-Men RPG. We've been open and active since October of 2005. You can play as a mutant, human, or Adapted— one of the rare humans who nullify mutant powers by their very existence. Goodies, baddies, and neutrals are all welcome.
Short Term Plots:Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
The Fountain of Youth
A chemical serum has been released that's shaving a few years off of the population. In some cases, found to be temporary, and in others...?
MRO MOVES WITH CURRENT TIME: What month and year it is now in real life, it's the same for MRO, too.
Fuegogrande: "Fuegogrande" player of The Ranger, Ion, Rhia, and Null
Neopolitan: "Aly" player of Rebecca Grey, Stephanie Graves, Marisol Cervantes, Vanessa Bookman, Chrysanthemum Van Hart, Sabine Sang, Eupraxia
Ongoing Plots
Magic and Mystics
After the events of the 2020 Harvest Moon and the following Winter Solstice, magic has started manifesting in the MROvere! With the efforts of the Welldrinker Cult, people are being converted into Mystics, a species of people genetically disposed to be great conduits for magical energy.
The Welldrinker Cult
A shadowy group is gaining power, drawing in people who are curious, vulnerable, or malicious, and turning them into Mystics. They are recruiting people into their ranks to spread the influence of magic in the world, but for what end goal?
Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
Adapteds
What if the human race began to adapt to the mutant threat? What if the human race changed ever so subtly... without the x-gene.
Atlanteans
The lost city of Atlantis has been found! Refugees from this undersea mutant dystopia have started to filter in to New York as citizens and businessfolk. You may make one as a player character of run into one on the street.
Got a plot in mind?
MRO plots are player-created the Mods facilitate and organize the big ones, but we get the ideas from you. Do you have a plot in mind, and want to know whether it needs Mod approval? Check out our plot guidelines.
Posted by Ashton Drake on Nov 14, 2017 14:19:07 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
Cinnamon
852
14
Dec 17, 2021 10:47:10 GMT -6
Mugen
It had been too long. Too damn long. He was an ass. He'd wanted to give her time. He was a time-giving, too-long-taking ass. Would she have come to him to talk? Had that been one of his thoughts? He was an idiot too, because that sounded soooo much like her. Her, with her healthy emotional states where she was prone to talking about things, like emotions or her feelings about things like being betrayed! (She didn't have anything resembling those states. That had been sarcasm. He should have known from her experiences with assigned shrink doctors just how very NOT her that reaction was. Kind of like him.)
He hadn't said anything after she'd turned over the case. Shortly thereafter, he'd stopped seeing her around the precinct. He'd asked around. It turned out, she'd left. And not amicably. Ashton had not been happy about hearing that news. For oh so many reasons. He'd looked her up and headed to her place. It was probably already too late for anything he could say or do. He really was an ass.
He pulled up outside her place, parked, then went up to knock on her door. He had absolutely zero clue what he was going to say if she answered. And he was a detective! Clues were supposed to be his job. One would have thought he'd have come up with something during the car ride over, but clearly, one would've been wrong.
Posted by Quincy Archer on Nov 15, 2017 18:31:55 GMT -6
Haven
Asset of Haven
[color=buttercup]
Straight
Involved with Nate
854
65
Mar 6, 2022 9:05:01 GMT -6
Jules
Work had gone well tonight...especially well when Quin considered that she was still breathing. Working with Wong was interesting...and sometimes dangerous work, but damn did the man get results. Cold water splashed in the sink and Quin let it fill her hands for a moment before bringing it to her face, the cold was bracing.
The eye wasn't that bad, it would probably purple just a little bit and the other scrapes would be sore in the morning. They'd made progress though. Real progress. The kind of progress that one couldn't make when they were fighting through miles and forests of red tape and bureaucracy. It was all so clear now, working for the NYPD had been holding Quin back all of this time and now that she was able to see the situation from the outside she could see how she'd been suffocating for years under the strain of it all.
A knock on the door brought Quin out of her reverie and she caught herself staring at her reflection in the mirror. The slightly dazed look shifted to a slight frown and she put a hand on the gun she was still wearing strapped to her side as she made her way to see who was outside.
It was so tempting to just walk away from the door and pretend that she wasn't home that Quin almost did. What the hell was he doing here? Why did he want to talk to her? Another thought wormed its way into her head though...was it about the case? Did he know somehow that she was still on the human trafficking ring?
Quin leaned her head against the door for a moment and sighed, she hadn't changed and was still in what could be considered prowling or tactical gear by someone who knew what they were looking at. Then there was the damp face, the bruises, and the fact that she was armed. Oh well. She opened the door just wide enough to talk to the man standing outside...it was not an invitation inside.
Posted by Ashton Drake on Nov 15, 2017 19:28:10 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
Cinnamon
852
14
Dec 17, 2021 10:47:10 GMT -6
Mugen
Just wide enough she could talk meant just wide enough he couldn't clearly see the rig or the bruise unless she turned just the right way. Ashton was operating without the full course of information. Which was sort of fair, in a cosmic karmic way (not that he was aware of that, either).
"I just heard," He grimaced, and rolled onward a bit too blindly and a bit too fast. "Though why I hadn't noticed beforehand, I have no goddamn clue. Guess that's just more on asshole me."
"Why it panned out this way, I don't know. I'm not going to take all the blame. You're a grown up. You make your own mistakes. But I sure as hell didn't help. And I do not approve."
He was on a roll. She was a grown up. She could make her own mistakes. But he was to blame too? And he didn't approve? What a bunch of BS! Contradictions, left and right! He needed to stop before she asked if he was drunk. Honestly, public drunkenness probably would've helped the coherency. In the moment he stopped himself, Ashton wondered why the door was only open a crack. Cop senses activated, and made him wonder if she had something to hide.
The uninvited guest began to speak in a rush (Quin wasn’t ready to call him by name yet, even inside her head) and the more he spoke, the more she wished she’d followed her initial instinct and pretended not to be home.
It was pretty typical, wasn’t it? Vagaries and the plain expectation that she would simply be able to figure out what he was talking about and and catch on. It didn’t matter that Quin did know what he was talking about, the fact remained that this whole thing was entirely incredulous in the first place.
She was a grown up?
She made her own mistakes?
He didn’t approve?
That patronizing...
Brown eyes narrowed to slits on his last sentence as a number of choice insults fought to be the first to tumble out of her mouth. It resulted in something of a traffic jam and she just stood there for a moment, trying to figure out what words needed to be where. She pushed the door open a bit more so she could make her point more clear.
”What makes you think I give a damn what you approve of?” managed to push its way out first, with ”And I didn’t make a mistake.” directly on its heels in a close second.
As to whether or not anything was going on…Quin scowled even more, something she would have doubted possible a few minutes before.
”None of this is any of your business.” she said, and made with the closing of the door, as quickly as possible.
Posted by Ashton Drake on Nov 16, 2017 21:02:54 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
Cinnamon
852
14
Dec 17, 2021 10:47:10 GMT -6
Mugen
The silence was not befuddled silence, merely the calm before the storm. The storm came, as they tend to do. It came in a sudden downpour of acerbic comments that was over almost before it had begun. It hit hard, and exhausted itself quickly. He heard it, alright, but his focus had been more on her face as she opened the door. He saw it. The side with the bruise. Just the faintest tinge of bruise, as she rained on his parade of stupidity. She'd gotten herself hurt.
She didn't know why he'd think she gave a damn about his approval, didn't make a mistake, and it was none of his business. Including the bruise. The door closed in front of him. It was an impressive showing of her personal restraint that she hadn't slammed it in his face.
Archer could have said worse. She could have cut him with her words, or simply told him to go do something anatomically unlikely with himself. She'd given him a concise flow that got her point across. It was a shame it was a point that Ashton just wasn't buying.
He pressed a hand against the closed door, and stared down at the knob. He felt like a knob. He hadn't slipped a foot between the door frame and the wall to jam it. That had probably been a smart move, for him. What with her temper, and all. This wasn't over. It just felt that way.
He grimaced. Ashton stood there, and spoke to nobody. "We never talk. Never talked. About anything. The case. The job. The past. Quin..." He trailed off for a moment.
This was stupid. She wasn't going to listen to him. Why would she? He'd screwed the pooch so hard, they needed a new pooch. He turned, and almost took a step away. He stopped. There was a small thump as Detective Drake's back pressed against the front of Archer's door, and then the sound of fabric scraping against wood as something slid down. Ashton sat on the ground in his gray work suit and suit jacket, ruining the lines. Getting it covered in floor dirt, with his back against the door. He always made a big effort to present a clean presence. He wasn't thinking of that.
In a small voice, Ashton talked to dead air. "I didn't mean to run away. Or chase you away. Hate me. Don't trust me. None of it is my business. Not after I lost your trust." Did she hear him? Did it matter? It needed saying, even if she'd walked into her home, and gone to the bathroom, or sat in front of the TV and turned it up to drown her uninvited guest's words out with Jerry Springer. He bowed his head, and didn't expect a reply. Unless she called the cops (which would have an irony all of its own).
Sometimes it just felt good to be angry. It was cleansing and lightening and the adrenaline rush that came with the anger made a person feel more alert, more focused, and more in touch with the tone of the situation.
Sometimes though, anger was exhausting. Those were the times when there wasn’t a proper outlet, or when the anger had been left to fester and rot for so long that prodding it just a little caused more pain than relief.
Quin hadn’t slammed the door, and she hadn’t locked it either. She’d wanted to stomp away and slam a door somewhere else, somewhere that he wouldn’t hear. Calm fury lost a lot of its power when a person did things like slam doors, make rude gestures, and shout profanities in the hallway of their apartment building.
A closed door wasn’t enough of a hint though. Not for Ashton Drake. Quin supposed she should be glad he hadn’t simply invited himself in another way...but then again, that wasn’t his style.
No. They didn’t talk. No. They hadn’t talked. Nope. Not about work. Barely at all about the case. Definitely not about the past.
Ugh. He never called her Quin. Ever. It almost felt too intimate.
The mild thud against the door made Quin take a small step back, then lean forward to look out the peep hole. The hallway was empty. More voice came through the door and the redhead looked down. He was going to sit on the floor?
Quin listened an at least felt a bit better as new, clean anger started to flow through her.
Was she supposed to feel sorry for him? After everything that had happened? He hadn’t meant to….
Sincerely hoping that he was leaning against the door hard enough to make a difference, Quin pulled on the doorknob hard and flung the door wide.
’You’re pathetic, and the old lady across the hall has probably been watching this whole thing with popcorn. Get off the floor and come in or go away.”
It had to be better than what he’d been expecting and since this was either going to happen in a monologue outside her door or with her as a participant, Quin decided to take the high road.
Posted by Ashton Drake on Nov 17, 2017 12:37:55 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
Cinnamon
852
14
Dec 17, 2021 10:47:10 GMT -6
Mugen
Pathetic. That was a new one for someone who was attempting to apologize. Was he, though? Yeah, kinda.
Ashton rolled off his side, and got to his feet. Yes, he had fallen backwards as she pulled the door he was leaning out from under his back. Yes, the old lady across the hall probably had fulfilled her voyeur's quota of eavesdropping today. And yes, Archer had invited him in. It had been in a roundabout manner, but it had been an in.
Ashton stared at her sheepishly, then followed Archer into her apartment.
The whole situation was awkward. Awkward entrance, awkward exit, awkward entrance. Again. Then, Awkward standing around waiting to get hit. He cleared his throat, then frowned at her. "You're hurt." And wearing a gun rig. "I don't know what you've been up to since you left the force. None of my business." His upheld hand attempted to forestall a nasty retort. Make peace. "I just came to talk. In the most pathetic way possible, apparently. How am I doing?"
He was using humor to get over his embarrassment. It may not have been the best option, but it was his. At least the look on his face was sincere.
Posted by Quincy Archer on Nov 17, 2017 13:17:05 GMT -6
Haven
Asset of Haven
[color=buttercup]
Straight
Involved with Nate
854
65
Mar 6, 2022 9:05:01 GMT -6
Jules
She wasn’t going to help him up. The whole point of opening the door that way had been so Quin could watch him roll on the floor a little before he managed to get up. It was petty, but it was a cathartic kind of petty that just felt okay. Besides, if he didn’t try to dress like someone out of a Raymond Chandler novel 24/7 it might have been a bit easier.
Ashton chose option number 2, of course, and made his way into the apartment.
He wasn’t done talking. So Quin crossed her arms and did her best to listen without interrupting after she had shut the door.
Of course he commented on the fact that she was hurt, ”I’m not…” she interjected, then vowed to keep her mouth shut. The little tap she’d taken in the face had been nothing. Not when she considered the pay off.
Ashton pointed out that he didn’t know what she’d been up to since she left the force and that he’d come to talk. The second point had been at least a little self evident in the way that he’d been talking since he showed up on her doorstep. He was trying to be funny too, which just didn’t seem appropriate in the grand scheme of things.
”You’re doing about as well as would be expected.” she said, tone still clipped and posture still completely closed. Quin was confused, and she said so.
”I don’t understand any of this, but I guess it’s better to just lay it all out there. Why do you want to talk now?” she asked, much more calmly than she felt.
”What is better about this moment in time than any of the others that have passed in the last four years?” He wanted to talk? They’d talk, but that didn’t mean she was going to make the conversation easy or be completely receptive to what he had to say.
Posted by Ashton Drake on Nov 17, 2017 15:32:43 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
Cinnamon
852
14
Dec 17, 2021 10:47:10 GMT -6
Mugen
Sincere or not, she hadn't appreciated the humor. Fair enough.
And she was mad. Mad he'd waited as long as he had to initiate this "talk." Because why now? Why not then? Why wait as long as he had.
"I'm not going to say I don't deserve that." Ashton said. "Though who's to say I didn't try? I picked up the phone so many times. I guess I just felt like it'd be unwanted. And hung up." Because it would have been. He cut himself off before he started blaming it on her. "I didn't want to make things more complicated than they had been." Or still were. "I'm not saying it wasn't stupid as hell." Because that would be lying.
Why now, of all times? Was it because he'd put it off for so long? Was it because she finally left the NYPD, and he wanted to talk? Did it have anything to do with the case, with their personal lives, with anything? What was his reasoning? He'd rushed ahead, but he hadn't really delved into the reasoning behind the rush. "I just know I'm full of crap. And I waited too long... You probably felt like I walked out on you. When I left MRC."
As if somehow it made things better that he'd wanted to call and simply been too damn chicken to manage the feat. If nothing else, he could have given her the chance to hang up on him like a normal person. There'd just been nothing, and now here he was.
It was almost impossible to understand how someone could be as dense as the man standing in front of her. Quin simply stared at Ashton for a few moments, mouth slightly open as she tried to digest what he had said and figure out what the hell a person was supposed to say back.
She had probably felt like he had abandoned her. She'd probably felt that way. As in even though she probably thought that's what had happened, she was wrong and that's not what had happened at all.
"Well holy shit." she finally said, "I've been operating under some kind of grand misconception all this time. No doubt brought on by some sort of keen female hysteria." Quin let that hang in the air for a few moments.
"Please clear things up for me...because I thought that the whole, leaving without a word or conversation and letting me catch all the flack felt a whole lot like abandonment."
Posted by Ashton Drake on Nov 20, 2017 8:42:18 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
Cinnamon
852
14
Dec 17, 2021 10:47:10 GMT -6
Mugen
Ashton looked shocked. Had she really not...? "You really thought I'd walked out on you?" He asked. "By choice? I didn't. I was forced out. Because they found out about us. And any talking beyond the bare essentials was going to look bad."
He frowned at her. If she'd really felt that way and hadn't seen the real game beneath it all, that would have cut her deeply. "Going to Richmond was an out. They passed it off as an opportunity. It was, but not the way they'd been thinking. If I left, it wouldn't make people think things. Wouldn't tarnish your reputation. And I wouldn't be holding you back."
He'd done his best in Virginia. He'd given it 110%. It had been an opportunity, but he'd never felt right about it. It had always felt temporary. He'd hoped people would forget. People would move on. Most important, he'd hoped Quin would have realized he'd left for a good reason. He hadn't been trying to be hurtful. That had just been the unfortunate direct result of downplaying the whole thing.
It was tough to fake a look of shock like the one on Ashton’s face, but Quin was suspicious anyway. She listened though, but the explanation didn’t make her feel any better. It was like he’d forgotten to clue her in on all of this for four years and expected her to jump right on the bandwagon.
That was if all of this was true and he wasn’t simply backbuilding out of some misplaced sense of guilt over the fact that she’d left the force. Quin laughed, and it was a bitter little chuckle.
”Well, if that’s the case you should have won an academy award for your performance. You fooled everyone.” Her arms had dropped to cross over her stomach. Her voice was not shaking while she spoke.
”Only you didn’t consider the fact that with you out of the picture, the only person left to make an example of was me. There was nobody left to gossip about but me. There was nobody there to stamp with the scarlet letter but me.” He’d had his perfect little plan, and it had worked out perfectly...for him.
”You have no idea what I went through.” she said, ”Or maybe you do because you saw exactly how things worked for me.”
More words hanging in the air, Quin didn’t even know what to say about the rest. Maybe she had too much pride to admit anymore.
”Like I said earlier, I didn’t make a mistake when I quit” she said, repeating her earlier words, ”I finally realized that I was drowning and nothing I did was ever going to make things better.”
Posted by Ashton Drake on Nov 20, 2017 18:21:57 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
Cinnamon
852
14
Dec 17, 2021 10:47:10 GMT -6
Mugen
He was silent for a minute. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet. "You're right." Ashton said.
Did he care to elaborate?
Yeah.
"I never wanted it to happen like that for you. Those assholes..." What they were was beside the point. "I never thought they'd treat you like some sort of red lady. Or treat you differently at all." He slapped his forehead, and grumbled. "Which was idiotic of me. And pigheaded stupid. So you're right. I didn't know what you went through. Or what you have to deal with, constantly. I am not playing the Man card here and saying I don't know because I don't experience that s*^%. Or maybe I am." He didn't know. He didn't make a habit of putting himself in ladies' shoes. For Quin, he should have made the effort. "That sort of bull makes me so angry. I was furious when they put me in charge of the case and did that to you. If I'd been in your situation... you probably don't care. But I think you made the right call."
Again, he fell silent. But he was on a roll. So he picked up once more. "When I found out you'd left MRC, I was disgusted. Because of the situation. Because of how I'd acted. Or failed to act. Angry, sick, ashamed. But listening to you now... I think you can do a hell of a lot more for people on your own than being held back by those asshats back at MRC. I'm just sorry it took me this long to realize I'm one of those asshats, too. Because I sure as hell didn't help you any. Despite my best efforts."
Posted by Quincy Archer on Nov 22, 2017 9:56:07 GMT -6
Haven
Asset of Haven
[color=buttercup]
Straight
Involved with Nate
854
65
Mar 6, 2022 9:05:01 GMT -6
Jules
Well.
This was somewhat unexpected.
Somehow after four years of absolutely no communication, Quin hadn’t expected this level of contrition from Ashton. Again, it almost felt misplaced. The words weren’t doing a lot to make her feel better, or more sympathetic towards his cause.
What he was saying made sense on a logical level though, distance was probably the best idea and they hadn’t been about to offer her a promotion as an out. It was petty to hold such a grudge...except was it?
Quin knew she was being quiet, but this was taking a lot of time to digest. She was in between the proverbial rock and the hard place. Was it really the job that she was still angry about? Things felt right now, taking the job with Haven had been something she needed to do. She’d outgrown what the NYPD was capable of doing. Ashton was right there.
That didn’t mean she wanted him there, or wanted to accept his numerous and progressively more self-deprecating apologies. There was another issue here that they were tip-toeing around and she was definitely not going to be the one to bring it up.
This situation boiled down to two basic choices.
”No. You didn’t.” she said finally. The truth was that he hadn’t done anything to help with the situation, but there really hadn’t been anything he could do.
”And I never stood a chance. It just took me a really long time to figure it out. I’m good now though. I’ve got everything figured out, an old friend knew of a job opening in their company. It’s going well.”
The path of least resistance was probably best. Quin didn’t need anyone looking too deeply into her new job...especially not a cop. It was almost funny to think about it that way.
Posted by Ashton Drake on Nov 22, 2017 20:03:21 GMT -6
Alpha Mutant
Cinnamon
852
14
Dec 17, 2021 10:47:10 GMT -6
Mugen
It takes time for good replies. He knew this. Thus, he didn't take her silence and let his imagination run wild. Even though he really could have. Because when she replied, the start sure as hell sounded negative. It was odd, though, because she had agreed with him. He hadn't helped. Ashton thought it would be highly hypocritical to be offended by her agreement with something he had said... so Ashton didn't.
It was good he hadn't. Because at the end, it was awkward... but she hadn't yelled at him. Some heat had left her. And she was doing good now. Better. With a good job. So... Ashton did not poke the pink elephant in the room. He left the underlying topic alone.
"Well. Ashton said. "That's good. I'm really glad things are working out for you, Quin. Really." He was.
He wasn't about to ask about the bruise the second after she'd started treating him like he wasn't the world's largest ass.