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.
Katrina watched the seatbelt sign with rapt attention. The moment the seatbelt sign was turned off, she stood up and stretched, bending all the way forward to touch her toes. Not that sitting on Fausto's lap all through take off was so terrible, it was just a little cramped. There was hardly enough leg room for one person, let alone two people trying to share one seat. Maybe it would have been worth the risk of being discovered to just buy two tickets and forget all the secretive nonsense. Though, she might not have gotten this far if people, like her mother, knew that she wasn't really spending a long weekend at Cielle's apartment to hang out with the band.
“I'm going to go stretch my legs for a bit,” she whispered in Fausto's ear. “I'll be back in a bit.”
They were towards the back of the plane, so unless she wanted to visit the stewardesses preparing the beverage cart or the aft lavatories, there wasn't much to see father back. Invisible, she wandered towards the front of the plane. She amused herself by trying to imagine life stories for some of the more interesting looking people she saw.
There was a dark featured woman holding a brand new baby. Katrina imagined that she was going home to Romania to visit the baby's grand parents for the first time. Naturally, the woman looked a little nervous about the journey considering the political turmoil her home country was experiencing right now.
There was a blonde businessman reading a newspaper and wishing he had upgraded to first class. Katrina peered over his shoulder at the headlines. With worrying about getting through the airport undetected she hadn't had time to catch the latest updates on the Registration and the Resistance. “Twitter: A new medium for today's protesters” was the article he was looking at. Katrina already knew about the twitter part of the resistance. She had already made a twitter account and changed her location to Romania to help shield the protesters from the government trying to search out protester's locations that way. She had already read many of the messages that were being broadcast to get an idea of what she was getting into. She had even retweeted her fair share of the messages, too.
The curtain that separated the coach passengers from the first class ones hung somewhat askew, taunting those in the cheap seats with a view of the luxury experienced in the foremost part of the cabin. It also discouraged them from wandering up their to gawk rudely or clog up the bathrooms reserved for the more privileged passengers.
Katrina was invisible, though, so she didn't mind swishing her way through the little curtain like an errant breeze. No one would even notice her checking out who was who in the big cozy seats.
Air travel could be a rather tedious affair for those lacking the ability of natural flight, having to endure a prosaic plethora of procedures merely designed to comply with capricious bureaucratic red tape and deliver an illusion of safety to those overly concerned for their own well being. Practically speaking it wasn't feasibly possible to make a public airport completely safe, far too many individuals had access and many of them were never given suitable background checks due to the low profile work with which they were tasked. Take into account that many publicly owned airports were also grossly inefficient in performing the simplest tests and procedures and a simple process such as checking ones baggage could take hours and then the probability of actually reclaiming your possessions at the end of your journey... well the less said on that particular area the better really.
It was because of such inconveniences that Zephyr personally preferred to travel under his own power, however although he would rarely admit there were limits to the British elementals power and although extended flight was seldom an issue transatlantic journeys were not yet something the hessian would undertake lightly, especially not when Slate offered to subsidize travel expenses for Kabal members and failed to define the scope of said expenses. Thus it was that shortly after Zephyr received the details of his assignment in Romania Mondragon labs was charged for a first class one way ticket to the aforesaid country and also VIP membership to several intercontinental airlines operating in the United States and Europe.
As the hazel haired elemental reclined in his first class seat and enjoyed the ability to fully stretch his legs a sudden bout of divination led him to conclude that the labs would also soon be billed for a bottle Chateau Mouton-Rothschild Jeroboam which, ideally, would be able to last him the first hour or two of the trip and allow him to sleep through what remained of the duration of the flight despite the constant vibrations of the engines which could be something of a nuisance to one capable of discerning . However until the attendants next happened passed by azure eyed mercenary would simply have to be content with what was left of the initial in flight snacks which had been distributed soon after takeoff and currently consisted of an empty bag of peanuts and one as of yet untouched muffin, perched somewhat precariously at the edge of the sliding dining tray which the elemental intended to save for a short time.
For now though the hessian would simply have to find a means of distracting himself until he could request his alcoholic libation. Sadly the in flight entertainment had yet to start at this point and crew members were still admonishing those who happened to activate any electronic devices, so it seemed a low tech solution was required, fortuitously one happened to be rather close at hand as every first class passenger was provided with their choice of newspaper and thus the reticent Kabal member presently possessed a copy of the wall street journal which, since the beginning of takeoff, had been placed inside a conveniently located drawer at the side of his seat. After an additional moments thought led to no other suitable diversions the elemental idly retrieved the paper and unfurled it in order to pursue its contents, his mind only partially aware of his surroundings as he waited for the an attendant to pass by.
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 invisible ingénue strolled slowly down the wide aisle, glancing at the faces of the more privileged passengers. They didn't actually look much different than the people in the back, they just had bigger pocket books. One lady, probably a politician of some sort, Katrina recognized the type instantly from all the gatherings her parents used to make her attend, was already falling asleep. Her seat leaned back to it's lowest elevation, her noise canceling headphones slightly askew, and complimentary Times tucked firmly under her arm. In front of her, a man so large that he probably had no other choice but to pay for the first class ticket, except for maybe two coach tickets. Katrina wondered which was more economical in the end.
In the next row up, a young businessman with brown hair reading his newspaper and ignoring the muffin that was perched precariously on the edge of his tray. It looked like a cranberry muffin, the kind that probably had cream cheese or something swirled through the inside for an unexpected bonus in deliciousness. Apparently they had first class snacks, too. Katrina paused, and asked herself, What harm ever came from eating a muffin?
None that she could think of. And he didn't seem to want it, so there was no point in letting it go to waste. Katrina reached out to grab it. Hopefully he'd never notice it was gone.
Romania was an incredibly fascinating country at the present point in time. A sovereign state teetering between the industrial age and a modern business revolution the nation's highly controversial introduction of a mutant registration act had left its economy in a rather precarious position as protestors and rioters threatened to raise crime, turn away foreign investors and disrupt urgently needed infrastructure projects intended to alleviate the pressure on an already strained transportation system. If the situation were not swiftly resolved events could rapidly spiral out of control and easily set the entire country back by two decades... at least, that was what the article in the Wall street journal proposed, in all honesty Zephyr felt the entire scenario was rather exaggerated, a dramatic depiction designed to debilitate the outside worlds confidence in the unstable nation in hopes of possibly urging business to other locations around the globe.
Such efforts would be largely mute though, Romania Government had taken drastic steps to make itself favorable hub of business commerce, they possessed ample raw materials; mainly in the forms of precious and key electronic elements which were coveted by technological manufacturers around the world. It's capital, Bucharest, had in the past few years introduce laws which offered almost ludicrously lucrative tax breaks to foreign businesses, add to that the relatively low wages of the Romanian populace in comparison to other western countries and the modernizing nation had made a key destination for many global businesses. There were however pros and cons to such a strategy, for while multinational corporations invariably brought an influx of wealth they also tended to take vested interests in their places of commerce which, more often than not led to the lobbying of governments. And as has been demonstrated over the years, capitalist greed and local governance are two forces which should never be allowed to mix.
Shifting the paper in his hands Zephyr nonchalantly turned to a new page as his azure eyes idly scanned over the collection of text in search of any other articles which might focus and postulate on present state and future of the conflicted country to which he was currently en route. The mercenary had been given precious little time to study the nations state of affairs before catching his flight and so his thoughts were somewhat absorbed with contemplating the possible flow of events over the next few days. The hessian had been indulging in such ponderings more and more frequently lately ever since his spatial awareness had surpassed his control and proved impossible to deactivate, intense migraines had quickly followed and the elemental had found himself diverting his thoughts to anything which could take his mind away from the pain.
Still he, was not able to ignore his seditious sixth sense completely, especially in such tight confines where the paths of movement were rather restricted, and so when a certain petite figure crept through the divider into first class the mercenary's brows had swiftly furrowed, though he had refrained from glancing over his shoulder to glance at the Lilliputian figure slowly advancing through the aisle, more than likely it was nothing more than a child searching for a stewardess to request another serving of snacks. As the adolescent approached his section of the aircraft however the hessian found himself idly tracking the individuals movements even as his cobalt orbs continued to scan the paper before him and so when the child moved to appropriate his neglected snack the elemental was far from unaware.
"I'm not done with that." Zephyr voice was calm but his tone possessed a clear note of disapproval as he absently raised a hand to brush away the adolescents inquisitive arm and move the muffin closer to the centre of his tray all without lowering his paper. "If you're hungry go ask an attendant for something."
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."
Her hand was brushed. The muffin was moved. She was reprimanded. By someone who didn't even bother to lower his paper whilst doing these things. Huh? He was clearly a talented multi-tasker and one handed paper reader with some talent for knowing about his surroundings without actually looking at them. Luckily his fellow first class passengers were not paying attention to the fact that he was now talking to himself. In a very familiar ennui laced drawl.
She pursed her lips suspiciously to one side and peered over the top of the paper with eyebrows drawn together. Now, where was her toy dart gun when she really needed it? No, she shouldn't talk to him, shouldn't let him know she was even here. If he was still thinking she was just some errant child that had attempted to steal a muffin, that was probably for the best; he didn't need to know exactly how errant she was, nor exactly which child.
Yeah, she'd best be going before he... Looked up. Didn't see her.
Yup, she'd just be going now. She turned on her heel and went the back the way she came, rather more hastily than she entered. Not running. Just walking briskly. Emphasis on briskly.
With the preponderance of his thoughts still attempting to elucidate a variety of conclusions from the sparse data he’d manage to glean from the article before him Zephyr paid little attention to the strangely silent stymied snack stealer. Many children, upon being thwarted in such a dismissive mien would take some form of offence at being so easily overlooked, others would simply be surprised they’d been caught and perhaps issue some sound of surprise or a mumbled apology. The young adolescent the mercenary sensed beside him however did neither of these things, instead opting to back up as much as the narrow aisle would allow before taking an inquisitive step forwards and approaching the hessians seat once more, an action which caused the mercenary to sigh slightly as the focus of his previous ponderings was disrupted and the low pulsing pain within his skull grew more pronounced. Despite this though Zephyr refused to lower his paper, opting to simply turn to a new article rather than reward the child with the child with the attention she seemed to be craving.
“Am I really so fascinating?” The words were issued in the form of a question however it was clear from the elementals cynical cadence that he was seeking not an answer but silent solitude and, thankfully, the petulant juvenile appeared to perceive the deeper meaning of the mercenary’s words for she hesitantly began to withdraw, and once again she acted wordlessly, a fact which finally struck the hessian as rather odd; children of any age were never naturally silent, it went against the very nature of adolescence which was itself a mere byword for immaturity. It was with this thought in mind that the mercenary abruptly lowered his paper by a marginal fraction, in order to catch a glimpse of the juvenile nuisance, and what he saw caused his mind to pause.
Zephyr’s spatial awareness had allowed him to catch the puerile intruder the moment she had entered the semi-restricted first class section of the aircraft, it had also been precise enough to allow him to thwart the child’s scavenging activities, he clearly recalled his hand encountering some for of resistance, yet as his sapphire gaze swept the length of the narrow aisle he found it to be utterly empty; not a single sole had stirred from their seats and barely a sound could be heard above the ever present roar of the crafts twin engines. In spite of this however the elemental continued to perceive an adolescent shaped distortion in the surrounding air hastily backing away towards the concealing curtain which acted as a divider between first class and the rest of the plane, and it was at this point that the hessian took notice of another presence swiftly striding forward behind the curtain.
Still somewhat nonplussed by the nonappearance of his puerile nuisance the azure eyed hessian barely even thought of uttering some form of warning before the advancing presence in the latter part of the craft swept through the curtain and collided with the swiftly retreating unseen form on the other side. The resulting impact created a rather aural thud which had a variety of effects. Firstly the air stewardess who had been pushing the drinks trolley through the plane came to an abrupt halt and released an audible gasp of surprise, this in turn drew the attention of several nearby passengers who shifted in the seats so as to see the source of the sudden commotion, perhaps most worthy of note however was the blonde haired gamine who abruptly materialized and fell to her back in the middle of aisle just in time to garner the sympathy of her impromptu inattentive audience. As for the elemental himself however there was something besides base curiosity which drew him to the unscripted spectacle unfolding right beside him, the injured ingénue lying on the floor seemed strangely familiar, however it wasn’t his sapphire eyes darted up to her face that the hessians memory finally managed to finish it’s recollection.
‘Katrina?’
The name arced through the elementals name like lightning, scattering the elementals previous trails of thought like leaves which were then forced to refocus on a single subject; of all the people the hessian knew the diminutive gamine below had never crossed his mind as a potential passenger, in fact, a more cynical part of his questioned what the blonde child was doing on the flight at all. News concerning the Romanian Registration act had surfaced yesterday, ample time for any mutant family to cancel a holiday trip, indeed the British hessian could not picture Ms. Dumonde allowing her child into an openly mutant hostile country after the events which had followed the camps in the United States. The woman would not have been alone in her decision either, many individuals had elected to cancel their flights once news had broken out and it was one of the main reason the mercenary had managed to acquire a first class seat on an empty row at relatively short notice. Add to that the fact girls face was far from a picture of innocence and it didn’t require much for the hessian to derive that something was amiss.
While Zephyr had been lost in thought the stewardess had kept herself busy delivering a somewhat effusive apology to the fallen child, stating that she should have been more careful and that the girl just seemed to have leapt out of thin air. Once the woman had paused to take breath Simon decided to make use of the opportunity to try and resolve the matter discreetly.
“I’m afraid it’s my fault really, I shouldn’t have let her run out like she did, with that being said though Katrina you really do need to look where you’re going, now why don’t you get back in your seat so the woman can pass through. I’m sure they’ll bring more food in a moment.”
The elemental words and tone had been genial enough to begin for he had been directing them towards the flight attendant, however once the mercenary’s focus had shifted to the sprawled gamine his affable affectation abated somewhat as he adopted a soft authoritative cadence and narrowed his eyes slightly before angling his head to indicate the empty seat beside him. There were questions which needed to be answered.
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."
Katrina's hasty retreat was quickly thwarted by the unfortunately timed appearance of a stewardess piloted drink trolley. With the curtain in the way the invisible illusionist never saw it coming, and in her preoccupation with escaping unnoticed from the hazel haired passenger farther up she didn't hear the telltale clattering of the beverage containers either. Her first awareness of the trolley came from the solid knock she received to the ribs when she ran straight into the unmanned handle on the closest side of the cart. The surprise of the blow knocked her backwards and she only found equilibrium again only once she was sprawled flat on her back in the aisle.
Her supine position elicited pitying noises from the passengers on either side of her who were no longer dozing or reading their print media as they had previously been inclined to do. The young illusionist felt suddenly very exposed, especially for someone who had been hoping to make it through the entire flight undetected. She gasped to catch her breath and backed up onto her now bruised elbows.
“I'm.. okay,” she assured the witnesses, hoping that they would look anywhere else but at her. “I'm very sorry,” she added to the stewardess who was now bending over her with some kind of misplaced motherly concern.
>>>“I’m afraid it’s my fault really, I shouldn’t have let her run out like she did, with that being said though Katrina you really do need to look where you’re going, now why don’t you get back in your seat so the woman can pass through. I’m sure they’ll bring more food in a moment.”
And suddenly the very person she had been trying to elude became her best option for escape from this rather odd situation. The sooner people went back to minding their own business and not thinking about that fact that she had appeared as if out of 'thin air' the better. She wasn't sure that she liked that condescending tone, but he was offering an entire row of empty seats as a refuge, so she wasn't about to complain.
“Yes, brother,” she responded and scrambled back to her feet, across his lap without waiting for him to move out of the way, raising his tray on her way past to make room, and into the vacant seat next to him. She buckled her seatbelt around her stomach and adjusted her skirt so it lay flat on her lap. Yup, she belonged in this first class seat. Been here all along, in fact. And this muffin she had grabbed on the way over Zephyr's lap? Clearly he had just been saving it for his younger sister.
The stewardess gave her one last look with a raised eyebrow and went back to her duty of offering beverages to the passengers. Katrina ordered orange juice and tried to figure out how on earth she was going to explain her way out of this situation once the stewardess was out of earshot. The air elemental was bound to have questions.
“So... You're working for Slate, too? Imagine that, being on the same flight.” It was a complete guess on her part, but she figured if she was wrong the worst thing that would happen would be that he wouldn't know what she was talking about and if she was right he might buy that she was actually supposed to be here.
Zephyr watched Katrina's progress with a carefully crafted vacuous visage as the young gamine took in her surroundings and apprehensively assessed the situation; the child clearly felt uncomfortable but from the way her eyes darted back and forth her anxiety seemed to stem from more than mere embarrassment however the elemental kept his peace, preferring to wait until the other passengers had returned to their business and the brief collision faded from their short term memory, discretion is the better part of valor, at least that was what the aimless aphorism would state, Zephyr himself simply disliked drawing undue attention to himself and if the way in which Katrina scrambled over his lap were any indication the blonde ingénue was all too eager to escape the centre of other people notice, despite this though she still seemed to retain some semblance of her habitual mischievous manner for the skirt clad adolescent showed little hesitation in purloining the elemental snack as she scuttled into her seat, there was little subtlety to the larcenous action yet the hessian again opted to remain silent, though his azure eyes did narrow slightly.
Once Katrina had made herself comfortable and clearly demonstrated to the stewardess she had settled her seatbelt appropriately Zephyr again apologized for the delinquent juvenile now in his care before passing along the gamines requested beverage and ordering his own libation, however rather than the Chateau Mouton he'd initially intended to order the British mercenary asked for a simple glass of water without ice as he absent mindedly reached down to a cylindrical container in his coat pocket; the flight still had quite a few hours to go and now it seemed as though he would not be able to enjoy them in an inebriated stupor as he had originally planned, thus he would have to rely on something to dull the throbbing pain behind his temples. For now however the painkillers could wait, words needed to be had, and although letting the child stew was a viable option the elemental saw little point in holding off his questions now that they had eluded the attention of the other passenger.
Just as the hessian was about to voice his first query however his blonde protégée abruptly made a comment of her own, one which made mention of the mercenary's employer and hinted that the gamine might also be within the Kabal's employ, such a thought did not sit well with Zephyr and his cobalt orbs swiftly narrowed as he recalled another child who had claimed to be on Mondragon's payroll. The encounter had done little to evoke the hessians confidence in his new employer, and if what Katrina was insinuating proved to be true the elementals regard for Slate would slip even further. Still though Zephyr was reluctant to accept Katrina's comments at face value, for one thing the gamine seemed entirely too nervous for her presence to be legitimate, secondly if the vertically challenged child did indeed belong here there would have been no reason for her to be skulking under an invisible guise, thirdly even though he spent relatively little time with the girl the elemental felt he had a secure grasp on her nature and so he could not picture a serious situation where Katrina would attempt to escape his notice unless she had good reason not to be found.
"Indeed, imagine that, who would have thought that the airport security would have been lax enough to allow an invisible mutant stowaway."
The elementals tone was dry and unamused, however it currently lacked any underlying note of scorn or reproach; such a cadence would not help the current situation as it would only put the girl on the defensive and make her reluctant to answer any questions. It was because of this that the elemental was doing his best to keep his tone impassive as he attempted to discern the purpose behind adolescents presence, he'd already made an educated guess and the girls reaction would hopefully tell him whether he was right or wrong but just in case the gamine need further incentive it was always best to give them a chance to explain themselves, it developed a thin layer of trust if nothing else.
"Katrina, what are you doing here?"
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."
>>>"Indeed, imagine that, who would have thought that the airport security would have been lax enough to allow an invisible mutant stowaway."
Katrina's mouth dropped open. To take a big bite of Zephyr's muffin, mind you. Not at all because he had hit the nail squarely on the head with that comment.
“Mmm,” she mumbled thoughtfully before swallowing. “I wouldn't know anything about that.” In all seriousness, she scrutinized the muffin trying to decide if there was indeed cream cheese swirls in it. Never mind that she didn't have a scrap of metal anywhere on her body to ensure that she could easily slip though a metal detector without setting off any alarms, or the fact that she didn't have any luggage other than a backpack which Fausto had put through the x-ray for her, or the fact that she didn't actually have a ticket. Small details, those. Not really important ones at all. She took another bite of the muffin.
>>>"Katrina, what are you doing here?"
Swallowed. That was a much more direct question. She could answer that, probably.
“I am going to help Slate in Romania. There are things I can do that no one else can, like helping someone travel without being seen.” Both of those statements were technically true; even if Slate didn't know she would be helping him and she hadn't actually been assigned a task where she had to help people travel invisible, it was true that she could.
“How about you?” He hadn't actually responded to Slate's name before, nor had he questioned who that was. That made her think that he knew the name but had purposely ignored it. She took another bite of the muffin, considered it's enormous size, and decided that, delicious as it was, she probably couldn't eat the whole thing herself. She broke it into halves as evenly as she possibly could, with her own missing bites all on her side of the break, and offered the other half back to the wind manipulator still in its rippled muffin paper.
Maintaining his apathetic affectation Zephyr wordless watched the diminutive blonde gamine, azure argus eyes keenly seeking any indication that his educated presumption held any weight; what the elemental received however was only partial support for his hypothesis for the moment his words had reached the ingénues ears her ashen eyes had grown wide with shock and her jaw had dropped in a most interesting manner, yet before the hessian could make any conclusive comments to secure the girls guilt the troublesome child had abruptly lowered her head and taken a sizeable bite out of her stolen muffin, causing the elemental to lose his train of thought momentarily as a futile protest rose in his throat. "That was mine." The elementals indignant statement however failed to elicit any form of response from the young adolescent as she instead used her mouthful to stall for time before finally denying having any part in sneaking aboard the aircraft.
The guileless gamine then went on to insist that she was traveling to Romania in order to assist Slate, indicating that she would participating in some form of espionage esque activities. A claim the elemental found exceedingly dubious and which also brought a measure of relief for if his instincts were correct then it meant the gamine had no true place in European nation and thus had not intentionally been placed in any direct danger. Still though there was the question of what to do with the child once the plane finally made its descent. Ideally the puerile juvenile would be sent back to the US on the first plane out of the country, however given the country's current volatile state it was unlikely there would be free seats on any commercial flights for some time, private airlines would also likely be overbooked and unavailable thereby requiring that someone keep a firm hold...
Zephyr shook his head and dispelled his current musings, the future he could worry about later, for now he still needed to determine precisely what Katrina was doing aboard this particular flight. The hessian was fairly sure she was nothing more than a stowaway, however it would be best if the girl admitted this to him herself and simply accepted her fault in the whole matter, thus there would be no chance of confusion or miscommunication of the subject later on. In order to accomplish this however he would need to start unraveling the child's current cozen so as to get to the heart of the matter and leave the gamine bearing nothing but the truth. Not too difficult a task as things went, after all he was only dealing with an adolescent who, among other things appeared to lack the patience to sit still in whatever seat she had originally possessed.
Uttering a soft sigh the British mercenary shook his head slightly before speaking. "Very well Katrina, we shall play this your way; what are the objectives of your assignment? Who will you be working with? What is your timeframe? And finally, does your mother know you're here?"
Zephyr attempted to keep a balanced tone as he spoke but as his comments progressed his cadence became slightly weary and held a light note of irritation as his headache abruptly increased in intensity, nothing incredibly significant but the brief spike was sufficient to make the mercenary wince and bring a hand to the bridge of his nose in a vain effort to diminish the constant ache as his other hand searched the contents of his pocket and deftly withdrew a slim cylindrical container, a few moments later the hessian had swallowed a pair of alabaster pills and chased them down with a drink of water before turning to acknowledge Katrina's own question and silently accept the uneaten half of the muffin the girl was offering, which was again placed back on his tray as he raised an eyebrow at the gamine beside him and responded simply.
"I asked you first."
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 did feel a little bad, but it had been rather necessary to take a bite at that particular moment.
>>>"Very well Katrina, we shall play this your way; what are the objectives of your assignment? Who will you be working with? What is your timeframe? And finally, does your mother know you're here?"
Those were very technical questions, that she could make up very technical answers for. Except maybe the last one which was a simple yes or no question. However, she didn't particularly feel inclined to invent things she wouldn't be able to remember later, so she thought that a simple answer would probably be for the best in this situation. She set her muffin down and crossed her arms stubbornly.
“I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to answer you first three questions, and I doubt you'd answer mine if I asked the same things. As for the fourth, no. Did you tell your mother where you were going?”
She frowned as he shook his head, winced, pinched the top of his nose, and swallowed a pair of pills. He took his half of the muffin back, but didn't eat it. He must really have been saving it for later. Katrina nibbled another bite off of her half, and examined his pinched expression with one eyebrow raised in concern.
Katrina's response was succinct if nothing else, the blonde gamine clearly knew enough about deceit that attempting to cozen someone with a multitude of false facts was one of many roads to ruin. Thus the child had simply responded with an answer which was truly not an answer yet still served as sufficient in the context of the conversation; sharing mission details within the Kabal was not strictly forbidden per say however each individual member was only informed of their assignment and given no extraneous knowledge of other objectives unless it somehow benefited their own mission. It was however possible that certain missions required a level of secrecy, Antonescue had been rather fond of such practices when he first founded the Kabal and there was no rational reason to assume Slate did not have similar procedures.
In short the elemental could not logically question the child on a line she had most likely picked up from a movie without being forced to give up similar details, though if it came to that he could easily fabricate a slightly less corrupt assignment for the gamines benefit. At this point however it was unlikely the elemental would be able to gain any additional information from the irksome ingénue without some form of compelling polemic, fortuitously though the ashen eyed adolescent's closing statement had provided the mercenary with a most inviting opportunity to persuade the girl into a more compliant frame of mind, the only marginal downside was that the hessians tactics would require him to volunteer a piece of somewhat personal information, nothing exceedingly important, but enough to make the situation slightly nettlesome. In either case it would likely displace the child's curiosity regarding the mercenary own pounding skull.
"My mother is dead. Yours however is not and cares for you deeply, yet you choose to abandon her in order to gamble your life away on this puerile pursuit. A cruel way to repay a mothers kindness." The elemental tone began flat and devoid of emotion as he mentioned his own mother, however as he went on to describe Katrina's own actions his voice adopted a disheartened cadence. Emotional manipulation was perhaps not the most moral approach however it was still an acceptable means of dealing with adolescents and indeed was a practice many parents had polished to perfection. Still there was such a thing as over use, guilt had ceased to be an effective measure for the British elemental early in his life once he had ceased to care about his father's biased opinion, hopefully though such would not be the case Katrina, indeed the hessian would be most dismayed if it was.
Leaning back into his seat Zephyr tore his azure gaze away from his blonde protégé slowly closing his eyes as he raised his hands towards his head and began to rub his temples in a slow rhythmic motion, the painkillers would soon take effect but until they did there were other actions the hessian could take to grant himself some small reprieve. The silence would also be helpful for it would give Katrina time to think about what she'd done and hopefully encourage her to adopt a more acquiescent bearing on their discussion.
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."
Katrina ducked her head in a gaze dodging, guilty manner. Even if he did speak that line without any sadness in his voice, id still made her feel guilty for reminding him that he wasn't fortunate to have a living mother to care about what he did with his life.
>>>“Yours however is not and cares for you deeply, yet you choose to abandon her in order to gamble your life away on this puerile pursuit. A cruel way to repay a mothers kindness."
And she did have one of those; a mom to constantly worry over whether she was eating enough vegetables, or spending enough time socializing, or playing her oboe often enough, or practicing her illusions on a regular basis. It was just that sometimes her protection was kind of constricting, even when she did mean it for the best.
She wasn't trying to gamble her life away. She just... needed a bit more adventure than sitting around the mansion all the time. She had done that, all summer and into the fall she had kept herself cooped up recovering from her last 'adventure'. She had eventually gotten so stir crazy that she had jumped at the first opportunity for an adventure. She thought she had taken enough safety precautions this time; she wasn't going alone, she wasn't going on Fausto's missions with him; just hanging out and helping out as best she could at wherever the base was like she had done during for the American Resistance, and mostly staying invisible as much as possible.
Yet, that probably wasn't a good enough explanation for her mother, which is why she hadn't given it to her in the first place. Nor would it be a good enough explanation for the air elemental sitting next to her. The little illusionist bit her lip and continued to stare at her lap, trying to think of any actual good reasons for being on this plane right now. She couldn't think of any.
Curse Dio, and his guilt-inducing logic. She looked up at him out of the corner of her eyes. He was rubbing at his temples like Katrina had given him a big headache.
“If my mother were your mother and she were here... she'd ask you if you wanted a cold wash cloth for your eyes. Should I get one for you?” Her tone was apologetic, and even though she didn't come right out and say she was sorry; she was.
The key failing of non prescription pain medication was that the concocted chemicals required time to infiltrate the users system and commandeer the appropriate synapses. This was especially true of pills which first had to be consumed, digested and distributed via the blood stream before even the faintest whisper of an effect could be discerned, and when one is already enduring a considerable amount of pain such a process can feel almost glacial in its timing. And while an age old aphorism attests that 'good things come to those who wait' Zephyr was finding his patience increasing strained as his other senses began delivering their own protests; the hum of the engines outside was steadily building to a dull roar and he could literally feel the air writhing as it rapidly coursed through the turbines in a manner agnatic to the wailings of a tortured feline. The temptation to divert the airflow was pressing constantly in the back of his mind even as he endeavored to direct his thoughts to other matters.
He must be coming down with some form of fever, surely this couldn't be a natural state of mind? How was he meant to even feign focus if he was constantly assaulted with additional sensory data he couldn't control? He might as well try and convert a sieve into an umbrella; both activities were pointless, futile and overall an utter waste of time, he'd tried in the beginning, he honestly had, yet the mercenary had swiftly concluded that the human consciousness possessed a limited capacity designed to utilize the inputs of only five primary senses, thus when faced with an additional sixth sense the mind was, for lack of a better word, overclocked and while Zephyr had previously made regular use of his spatial awareness it had always been in brief bursts, never more than 15 minutes at a time. Now though his sixth sense had been active for almost a fortnight and the constant use was extracting a definite toll on the elemental; by the end of the first week he'd begun treating painkillers like breath mints.
Katrina was speaking. How long had she been doing that? Cracking open one eye Zephyr winced slightly as the dying sunlight seemed to scorch his vision, the rays were fading fast though and the elemental silently shifted his azure gave to the lightly hunched adolescent on his left, lowering his hands back onto the chair as he processed her words. He'd only caught the tail end of her response however the child's conciliatory cadence was easily discernable, as was the gamines offer of assistance. Under other circumstances the hessian might have accepted such an informal apology and allowed events to move on, things being what they were though the mercenary's patience and good will were in rather short supply, as it was Zephyr likely would have snapped at the girl if she hadn't already been wearing that injured puppy expression that adolescent females so often employ.
"No thank you." He replied coolly. "I'd rather not have you wandering off."
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."
Katrina huffed a sigh and crossed her arms. She was not going to wander off; she just wanted to help him because he looked so pathetic with his face twisted up like a sad sock monkey that had come out worse for the wear after a trip through the washing machine.
"I wouldn't wander off. There's not really any place to wander to on an airplane." This was grumbled under her breath, loud enough probably for him to hear, but she didn't necessarily expect a response.
Well, if he wanted to be sulky and enjoy his headache in peace and quiet without someone to fuss over him, he could just go and do that. Or stay and do that rather. Katrina was going to watch out the window.
The sky was blue. A blanket of smooth clouds lay below them. It almost seemed like they weren't moving at all. Blue and white. Blue and white. More blue and white.
Katrina sighed and turned back to face her companion again with an expression of unbelieving boredom. It had probably only been about four minutes since her last comment.
"So, you know about my family, kind of, mostly. Tell me a little about yours."
Was he looking at her or still keeping his eyes tight shut to help his migraine? She put on her best puppy dog look, just in case.