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.
Aurion didn't really think less of himself for it, but not finishing 6th grade really did put him behind almost everyone he had met since he came to the Sanctuary. Even the kids that were around the place knew more stuff than he did. He'd been approached a couple times and asked if he could help the kid with something. Having been showed what, Aurion had to admit, somewhat defensively, that he didn't know.
Not only did he not know what he had not understood what he had been shown, but he didn't know what the heck it had been. Algebra, Trig, Chemistry, basic Biology...all completely foreign to the man. No one tried to ask for his help with anything involving English, even if he could hear what they were working on from time to time. They knew he had trouble speaking, or at least that he had had trouble speaking at some point. It was common knowledge, the big lizard guy was kinda dumb and a little slow.
That opinion hadn't yet begun to change after that crazy dream, from which he woke up from able to speak like he thought. Even that wasn't very good compared to what he heard around him. He'd hear someone say something and become lost because he didn't know what the word, or words, meant.
It was actually a little depressing to the big guy. He was constantly feeling like he was 10 years old again, surrounded by adults. In some ways he really did have the mental age of a tween.
Those were the thoughts that sent Aurion to the library and do the only sensible thing he could do; Grab a dictionary and start reading it from cover to cover. He'd probably end up keeping it since the pages were always so flimsy, so he made sure to take the oldest, rattiest looking one he could find. Go figure the worst one he could find looked like it hadn't been used much and only had a few dog-eared pages.
So Aurion sat in the most comfortable loveseat he could find, because that was the only thing he could sit in comfortably, and began reading from 'A' to 'ZZZ'.
Posted by Cheshire on Nov 20, 2012 13:26:29 GMT -6
Mutant God
3,233
18
Sept 24, 2018 19:41:05 GMT -6
Calley
New York City.
The Big Apple. The City that Never Sleeps. Etceteras, etceteras. Every deserted back alley had its four-armed hobo; every quiet corner of a park, its wolf shifter meditating obtrusively on a favored sun-bathing rock. Just where was a pro-sleep, anti-apple feline supposed to go in such a town, when he wished for his elevenses siesta?
Look no further than the Sanctuary's library, Felis silvestris catus: with its rich store of knowledge and prime location in a busy mutant safe house, the Sanctuary's library was sure to be found with more dust bunnies than—
--giant lizards.
Eh. Well, at least lizards were more appetizing than wolves. And my, what a finely sized one this was. Did its tail fall off, if one pounced it properly? The cat had crossed paths with lizards like that before, and employed a firm nom-and-release policy with their persons. Lizard tails were a crunching treat, like popcorn: endlessly regenerating, still-twitching popcorn.
Of course, this lizard's tail was more like the world's largest corn knob then a crackling kernel, but the cat was not a finicky creature.
On velvety paws it padded; first to the edge of a table, then the corner of a shelf, then the back of a chair. It twined around the loveseat's edge and across its back, leaving lovingly shed hairs adhered to the fabric in its wake. With a spring that kindly asked gravity for a dance, it landed lightly near the large lizard's shoulder. White whiskers twitched as it peered down, and found a familiar sight.
Ah, the dictionary. He'd read that, once. ...Well, one of him had.
"Man," the little white cat with its black spots here and there deadpanned, its voice sharply accented between teeth that were never meant for human speech. "Wait until you get to "F." Floccinaucinihilipilificatingly good times."
cat•ty /ˈkatē/ (adj) 1.) Deliberately hurtful in one's remarks; spiteful. But not obvious about it, mind you. 2.) Of or relating to cats; catlike. Really, it can't be helped. 3.) That tail still looks delicious, mind you; we'll be getting back to that.
The scaled one never heard the furred one enter. Never heard it as it walked around the library barely a tail length from him, granted, a tail length for Aurion was quite a distance. He was oblivious to the cat's attention, to the danger his tail was in. The last half of his tail moved lazily from side to side, occasionally flicking up and making a soft 'thumpt' as the tail slapped the floor when it landed. Aurion of course never noticed what his tail was doing when he left it to it's own devices.
Done with another page, he tried to turn to the next one as gently as he could. And of course he wound up putting a hole in it, again. "Damn!" He cursed to himself. How many times was that? 8, 9, 20? Did it even matter anymore? No, no it did not, he wouldn't be returning this book to the shelf, not with how he had mishandled it, even on accident. At least it wasn't so bad this time, unlike a few of the others, he could still put the tears back together and read. "Why don't they make these things more sturdy? Stupid books."
He hadn't gotten more than a few words into the new page when the cat landed near his shoulder and spoke. Looking up from the book he didn't see anyone around him right away. Thinking they must have moved, he turned his head to look directly into the furry, whiskered face of a feline. A not quite cow cat, but close. White fur, black spots, and really blue eyes. He was momentarily taken aback at the sudden appearance of the animal, but beyond that didn't think much of it. It was a cat, they did stuff like that, appeared and disappeared randomly, without the slightest sound or hint of their comings or goings.
'Not bad eats either.' Said the little voice in his head that was always thinking of food.
Aurion was just starting to turn his head back to the book when he caught sight of those whiskers moving and a heard the voice again, coming from between the cat's teeth. Facing the cat again, his eyes slightly wider than normal, neck pulling his head away from the cat just a smidge. He stared at the blue eyes creature. Aurion did a lot of blinking at that moment, as if blinking would get the gears of his mind moving again. And maybe it worked. Glancing down at the book with a slightly open mouth, he quickly looked at the feline again.
"Flockin-what?!" Genius response that was.
His tail twitched more rapidly, a bit agitated. Aurion didn't like being snuck up on for one thing, for another, he was only mostly sure the cat was a mutant. It could be some mutant's pet that somehow could speak and read, and think and....That was sort of creepy to think about. Cats did entirely too much watching and listening and staring as it was... If they actually thought and reasoned and spoke about what they observed.... A very small shudder ran down his spine, from the base of his neck to the tip of his tail, where it became a not so small shudder.
Posted by Cheshire on Nov 20, 2012 15:00:19 GMT -6
Mutant God
3,233
18
Sept 24, 2018 19:41:05 GMT -6
Calley
"No no," the cat corrected, in a voice that may have sounded more like mro mro. "Flock-see. Like what sheep dogs do."
Baby blue eyes followed the shudder-twitch-thumping movements of the lizard's tail, while his head stayed nominally pointed in the direction of the creature's face. The creature's face, which had so respectfully backed away upon perceiving his fine feline form. Ah, there was a movement that inspired a closer examination.
"I perceive in you a proper education," the little white cat said, its black tipped ears swiveling to keep tabs on the tail's thump-twitch-shudderings while its eyes moved back to the lizard. "Or the proper basis for one."
It stood, and twined its way around first one side of the lizard's skull, then the other, its flank and tail brushing over scales and the mutant's scraggly hair with the intimacy of a seamstresses' measuring tape.
"Yes, your cranial capacity is of a proper size. Hold still."
With light feet, it stepped from loveseat to the top of the man's head, and experimentally kneaded.
"Yes, as I suspected. No soft spots."
A moment later, its fore paws settled onto the slope of the lizard's forehead, and baby blue eyes peered downward much closer to their yellow equivalents. The mutant's pupils were slit like a cat's.
"Your eyes show a certain keen potential for intellect, as well," the feline observed, unmindful of how fanned whiskers may or may not tickle a lizard man's face.
A single paw dangled down, and patted the man solidly on his topographical equivalent of a nose.
"All right, then. It's settled. I will allow you to become my Fourth Retainer."
Aurion wasn't sure what the cat was talking about. 'Flock see?' He thought to himself. His eyes gazed around quickly. 'There aren't any birds in the library...' So either this cat...mutant or not, was crazy or there was a small bit of miscommunication going on. "What do you mean proper education?" He said as he held his head very still while his eyes followed its movements. "Kraynial? You mean my hea-" He was cut off when the cat hopped onto his head, "Hey! What're yo-" He was cut off again.
The feline wasn't loud, not loud enough to drown out his own deep voice, but it was still odd and unnerving that a cat talked. Thus he unintentionally shut his yap when the cat spoke in its odd mrowling voice.
Aurion couldn't help but laugh when the cat reported he found so soft spots on to the top of his head. "I would think not. Nice hard bone up there. If it were soft, I'd be worried for my health." Eyes straining to look up as he spoke, he felt when the cat laid down on his head. The added weight up there shifted a bit and the very light pressure he felt atop his skull changed a bit. His eyes crossed a bit as he saw the white paws and face. Moving from the paws to the tiny cat nose, he stared into the furred face, as best he could with one eye, resisting the urge to swat it off his head with his fin.
Aurion's mind had a sudden flash of a cat's paw, with unsheathed claws, trying to scratch his eyes. He stiffened for just a moment as that thought passed through him, ended with his second eyelids sliding over his eyes to give him some measure of protection. "Uhh...thanks? I think.."
Noticing he had been holding the dictionary rather tightly, and putting a somewhat deep puncture into the pages, he closed the book. "I can't tell if you're trying to say I'm smart or poking fun at me." He said with a slight rumble in his throat. "Who are you? Are you some sort of strange cat that can talk," 'As unlikely as that is.' "Or are you another mutant?" Aurion's tail curled into tight 'S' patterns and began rubbing against itself, the sound similar to a rattle snakes rattle, "What 'retainer'?" He said that unfamiliar word slower, trying to get it right.
Posted by Cheshire on Nov 20, 2012 16:23:02 GMT -6
Mutant God
3,233
18
Sept 24, 2018 19:41:05 GMT -6
Calley
The cat, of course, offered neither answer nor explanation until its own inspection was complete. Then, still peering down the lizard man's head, he answered all.
In reverse order.
"A Retainer—mind the capital; it is a proper noun—is what you are. What you are is Fourth Retainer to a Tom Cat; that would be me. I am a cat and a mutant. You can attribute my speech to either, as you please. I can assure you quite emphatically that I would never poke fun at my Retainer, unless I felt like doing so. You're welcome. Nice eye, by the by. Is it hard to see through the second eyelid?"
The feline shifted positions; a languid stretch of spine, a quick flick of tongue over its back, and suddenly, it was laying down facing the opposite direction, addressing the lizard man's other eye. He left his black-tipped tail to dangle in front of the former, so it would not feel neglected.
"What I was doing just now was an inventory of your potential, as any Retainer of mine must be a top specimen. Naturally, that includes a thorough examination of your cranium, that is, your thinkin' noggin, in which your brain-thoughts occur. I had already ascertained at first glance that you had proper manners, and it's quite evident that your breeding is superb—simply look at your tail. You've the mark of a gourmet, Sir."
Reverse order, minus one.
"I am Calley," the little cat imperiously announced, from atop his Fourth Retainer's crown. "And you are?"
Aurion took a deep breath and let it out slowly. This was going about as well as he expected a conversation would. Everyone imagined what animals would be like if they could talk, this was about right. Except, Calley, as it called itself, actually responded to questions. Albeit in the order he, she..it? wanted and not very clearly either. It seemed to answer in an odd circular way, not explaining anything. Aurion wondered if it could answ....
He stopped himself. It was just kind of rude to refer to the cat as an 'it', and Aurion wasn't going to outright ask if it was male or female, he knew what that was like. So he'd do what he felt was right. Default to male. What would also be rude was not responding to his compliment and question. "Thanks." He couldn't remember if anyone had ever commented in a complimentary way about his eyes.
To answer the question Aurion almost let one of his second eyelids slide away to compare the sight of both eyes. Almost. The image of a cat's claws on his eye stopped him. The question did make him pause and think though. With a quick look around the library Aurion tried to notice if anything was different. "Nope. Don't see anything different. Never thought about it before to be honest."
Making a movement with his hand, the dictionary waved about. "What is hard though, is trying to figure out what you mean by retainer, with a capital. If I had normal fingers I'd flip through this and look it up. I tried that already and I tore some pages before it flipped out of my hand." He grumbled a bit. "And I'd rather you be a cat mutant than a mutated cat, because the second option freaks me out a bit. Thinking that animals could me mutants like us...sort of terrifying honestly. Lightning breathing rats and flying sharks...." Aurion shuddered hard enough that even his head shook.
Then he moved and shifted positions, letting his tail fall in front of Aurion's eyes. 'Does he think my head is a .... one of those things cat's lay on for hours at a time?' Even to himself, his mental voice sounded a bit annoyed. With the mental voice's annoyed tone came a deep throated growl when the cat mentioned Aurion's breeding. He did not like to think or be reminded that he had anything in common with those humans. Even the word in his mind dripped with venom.
As if he were doing it on purpose the cat used another word that Aurion was unfamiliar with which distracted him from his annoyance towards humans. "Gourmet?" The word came out absently.
Waving the dictionary towards the cat, Calley. "I am Aurion, and I was reading this dictionary for a reason. So I could learn words I didn't know before. Like the ones you're saying." He finished with a huff. "So, your retainers, with a capital 'R' right? You called me your fourth, who are the other three? And what...uhh...what is their purpose to you?" Aurion was sure he wasn't asking the question correctly, but at the moment, he couldn't figure out a better way to phrase it.
Posted by Cheshire on Nov 20, 2012 18:38:06 GMT -6
Mutant God
3,233
18
Sept 24, 2018 19:41:05 GMT -6
Calley
"Intriguing," the little feline said, one of its paws dangling awfully close to Aurion's eyes the longer the man spoke. Its claws were politely sheathed, of course, but the urge was there: to test, to poke, to prod. "Mine are rather too opaque for easy vision. They exist as dust wipers, primarily." He demonstrated with a slow, lazy blink of all three eyelids. A cat's blinks were far slower than a man's, and notoriously more infrequent; they were simply that much better at watching. Staring. Waiting.
Tail twitching.
"You may call me a cat mutant, if you wish." The tail dangling in front of Aurion's other eye curled into a pretty little humoring loop. "I do have a bipedal form, if that eases your mind further. It is simply not my preferred set of clothes to wear. What about you? Do you have another form, or is this your only outfit?" It would be no mark against him, of course, either way: not everyone could be a shifter, or a cat; only the truly fortunate could be cat shifters. If Aurion had no other forms, he was simply one amongst the many unfortunate masses who needed Calley's help to experience felinedom.
"Here," the cat changed topics and perches quite swiftly: with a leap, it landed in Aurion's lap, on top of the open dictionary. "Your technique was simply in need of refinement. Allow me to demonstrate."
With the greatest of finesse, the cat aligned himself so that his forepaws where on one side of the dictionary's pages, and his hind on the other; then, with regal confidence, he began to rapidly paw at the pages, his claws sheathed. What resulted was quite the page turner. Every few sheets, he added in a kick to settle the newly raised stack on the dictionary's other side, then repeated.
Their first stop, alphabetically speaking, was "G."
gour•met /gôrˈmā/ (noun) 1.) A connoisseur of good food; a person with a discerning palate. 2.) Of a kind or standard suitable for a gourmet.
After giving the lizard time to read (and moving to one side of the pages, to graciously allow him to), he stood, and began again.
re•tain•er /riˈtānər/ (noun) 1.) A thing that holds something in place: "a guitar string retainer". 2.) An appliance for keeping a loose tooth or orthodontic prosthesis in place. 3.) (medieval) A person, especially a soldier, in the service of a lord in the late Middle Ages
"See?" The cat stated. "Once one has a proper style, it becomes easy. In your case, I would advise turning the pages with your knuckles. They seem a bit less..." What was the proper word? "Stabbity-stab."
"As my Fourth Retainer, you join the ranks of Ghost, my First, and Juka, my Third. My Retainers fit the third definition, by the way." Just so they were clear.
On the subject of gourmet, such clarity was unnecessary at this time.
That paw was getting too close for comfort, getting too close to his eye. Even with the eyelid, that gave him a bit of protection for his eyes, he did not feel comfortable with the possibility of claws touching it less than an inch from his eye. Aurion tried to move his head slightly away from the paw, but stopped almost immediately realized that was rather stupid seeing as Calley was on his friggin head and moved with him. With that realization Aurion's fin stiffened, stopped its normal movements to rise up and position itself to remove the cat.
He was able to settle himself down before he reacted too impulsively, his tail settling down, but stayed tensed. Though his tail may not have relaxed, he began to as Calley spoke of having a different form, a human form, guessed Aurion, or at least humanoid. "It makes me pretty sure you're a cat mutant and not a mutant cat, which puts me at ease. But no, I don't have any other form. And no offense, but why would I want to look human?" Aurion assumed that's what the cat was referring to as 'another form'.
Then the impetuous cat hopped from his head onto his lap and the book. Aurion almost protested the action. Not because he enjoyed having a cathat, but because it was his book and he'd eventually figure something out. He could do things on his own, dammit! 'Even if it is a mutant, this mutant is a cat too....pompous buggers.' That thought made him laugh to himself. He may be bad with a lot of words, but pompous had intrigued him enough as a kid to look up what it meant, and remember it. Even saying it was kinda fun.
As much as he didn't want to, Aurion had to admit that Calley did seem to have an easy time turning the pages, without ruining them. It didn't take long for the furred brat to get where he wanted in the book. He looked at the word Calley pointed out and read it slightly under his breath. 'Oh great,' He thought to himself. 'To understand this one, I have to look up three other words.' At least the second word Calley guided the book to was easier to understand, using simple words that everyone knew.
Well, mostly. 'Orthodontic prosthesis', yeah, he had no idea what that was exactly, but he was sure he could guess. There had been a girl from school who had something for her teeth. Aurion hadn't really thought about school or any of he long ago classmates in years. He knew it had to be at least 10 or 11 years ago, but ever since that crazy dream, some things seemed further away than they actually were.
"Yeah, that could probably work better than trying with a claw." He admitted reluctantly. "Though..." He set the tip of his claw into the slot that marked the beginning of the 'S' words. Flicking it up to open the book to that page he watched as Calley moved himself out of the initial page turn. Tapping the 'S' section. "I don't really think 'stabbity-stab' is actually a word Mr. Calley-Cat." He couldn't help sticking his thin, forked tongue out at the feline. It worked, at least to his ears and his mind, Mr. Calley-Cat, he liked that.
"I'd hope it was the third. The first two seem rather boring and disgusting." Aurion didn't recognize either of the names, but he did catch that there seemed to be a numbered retainer missing. "So who's the second retainer?"
Posted by Cheshire on Nov 20, 2012 20:52:46 GMT -6
Mutant God
3,233
18
Sept 24, 2018 19:41:05 GMT -6
Calley
Why would one want a human form?
"Opposable thumbs," the cat stated simply. "Sometimes, they are highly useful."
Not for page turning, however; clearly, there were other means to be employed, here. As Aurion demonstrated one such, the little cat nimbly stepped out of (and over, and back into) the way.
"Now, how can you say that for sure?" The cat said, its tail curling around its forepaws and giving a casual twitch, twitch. "You haven't even flipped to the proper page, yet. Come, now. Give the knuckle method a try; if that doesn't work, we'll explore other ways. The dictionary will be your training wheels; until you can flip its pages without causing lacerations and internal hemorrhaging of paper shreds, you'll never move up to proper books."
The cat leapt onto its Fourth Retainer's left shoulder, and gave the man an encouraging nuzzle of furred cheek against scaled. If this happened to also be cat's way of marking favored possessions with its scent, well. What a happy coincidence.
"Here, I'll spell, and you flip. S-T-A-B-B- Why would I have a Second Retainer? I already have a Third and a Fourth. That would be rather a backtrack, wouldn't you agree? -I-T-Y. Of course, this is just a standard dictionary: it may be that we need an urban dictionary to look it up properly. Did you know that some dictionaries don't even have 'mutant' in them, yet? Not 'mutant' that means us, anyway. Dictionaries tend to be a few years behind the times."
If 'stabbity-stab' was not in the dictionary, it was no one's fault but the dictionary makers'. Cleary it was a word; he had used it, and Aurion had understood.
"So why are you reading the dictionary, Fourth Retainer Aurion?"
"Opposable thumbs" Was Calley-cat's reply, as if it didn't apply to himself or Aurion. So Aurion did what any sensible person would do after hearing that comment, he put his hand up in front of Calley, made a fist and wiggled this thumb at him going 'Neener-neener-neener!' in his head. " 'Sides I thought you said you had a..bipedal...form, don't it have thumbs?"
"Training wheels? I was okay with other books I'll have you know!" He was feeling a bit indignant at the moment. "These pages are just too fuggin thin'n flimsy." Even though he complained and explained why he was having issues, when Calley hopped onto his shoulder, he tried the knuckle technique that had been suggested. At first he applied too much pressure so the page didn't move except to rip just a little, and get crumpled under his large knuckle. Then he went lighter, but was too light and the page just slipped and returned to it's resting place.
"It would be so much easier if I could feel the paper." He mumbled to himself, only vaguely aware that Calley could hear him. A thought occured to him and he brought his knuckle to his mouth and licked a small part of it. He remembered seeing older humans, mostly women, doing it to their fingertips, maybe it would work for him? So he gave it a shot. After a few tries he had gotten it pretty good, he had to keep wetting his knuckle to do it after every other page or so, but it worked.
Aurion stopped turning pages after Cally got to 'b' in his spelling and was about to protest that he could spell stab when the cat kept talking. "Wait, Urban Dictionary? You mean there's a different one?" He was a bit thrown by this information, and a bit disheartened too. One dictionary was bad enough, but if this Urban dictionary was as bad as he was imagining, he'd have a lot more to deal with. And he wasn't sure he was up for that. When Calley-cat said that some dictionaries didn't even have an updated definition of 'Mutant' Aurion's response was rather simple, "Well, humans are quite stupid most of the time."
He had almost been successfully thrown off track as he found 'Stab', but failed to find 'Stabbity'. Then he remembered. "Wait, that makes about as much sense as jumping from one to three and completely skipping two." Aurion gave the cat a 'I'm not stupid.' look, or at least tried to, his face wasn't very good at showing complex facial expressions.
"I figured that was kind of, ya know," He waved one hand in a circular motion, "Easy to figure out. I don't know a lot of words. I still don't understand that one word...what was it...Something about food. I didn't understand three of the words use to explain the word." Aurion shrugged. He was a bit ashamed of it, but it was pretty common knowledge that he didn't speak well, and that he didn't seem to understand a lot of things, so telling Calley wasn't really that big of a deal.
Posted by Cheshire on Nov 23, 2012 13:43:23 GMT -6
Mutant God
3,233
18
Sept 24, 2018 19:41:05 GMT -6
Calley
The cat stretched its neck out, whiskers and nose just barely grazing the lizard man's hand. With a bit of a sneeze, it settled itself again.
"Excellent," it commented on the subject of Aurion's opposable thumbs. "Then while you are around, you can do all the thumb work I require. Very good, Fourth Retainer."
"People have many different languages," the cat explained, its forepaws lazily draping down towards the lizard's chest as it returned to its former state of kitty-puddle. "As such, they make many different dictionaries. An urban dictionary is for all the words that rural and suburban English speakers would find too harsh for their poor non-city ears." Calley's black-tipped ear flicked; flick flicked; he rubbed himself against the side of Aurion's neck, then settled back down with a brief purr. "Your scales are very good for scratching. Like tree bark, but without as many furrows to screw up my fur, and fewer insects living under it. I presume."
He aimed a tongue over a foreleg for a few quick strokes; then he looked up, baby blue eyes closing in a slow cat blink. "A gourmet is someone who appreciates fine food. Or the food he or she is appreciative of."
The blink ended; outer lids, then inner, retreated slowly until he was peering back up into Aurion's yellow eye.
"You're not one of those mutants who look for reasons to call humans stupid all the time, are you? That would be quite the stupid hobby." The cat nosed him. "Turn to the front. Check the print date. Language doesn't change very quickly as a whole, so most libraries only order new dictionaries when the old ones wear out. Mutants have only been common knowledge since the Nineties, you know. From the color choice on the cover of this one, I would say late eighties."
Calley had heard of fabled 'newly printed' dictionaries, but he'd never seen the creatures in the wild, outside of their book store enclosures.
The thumb wiggling didn't have the desired affect on the feline. 'Maybe if I actually said the 'neener-neener' out loud.' He doubted it though. Calley seemed to be fairly immune to, no not immune, he just didn't seem to care. Like it didn't matter because he'd have things his way in the end. Which was evident by his comment to Aurion about doing all the 'thumb work'. 'A talking cat would be bad enough, a talking smart-ass cat was terrible.' Aurion decided.
"So...the Urban one, is full of slang stuff?" Yes, 'Slang', another word Aurion liked saying. He was going to write those down some day. Some words were just fun to say, like 'dude', who didn't grin when they said 'dude'? "Just words or sayings too, cuz that is something dictionaries need. Common sayings, like 'Shove off', or something like that, ya know?" Aurion turned and tilted his head slightly to look at Calley with one eye. "Glad you like'em. If there are any bugs, it'd be news to me. Not that I could feel'em anyway." A toothy smirk and he looked back at the book.
"Looks like it should be said 'gor-met' not 'gor-May'. Kinda like a food critic then." He remembered that mean lookin guy from that movie where the rat makes the food, Rat-something. Aurion was sure that's what the guy was called. Maybe he was wrong, he had been hanging from the roof watching through the window at the time.
While Aurion turned the book to the front cover with a flop of pages he listened to Calley's guess of the book's age. "I don't need to look for reasons." He snarled. "I've dealt with'em enough." If Calley wanted to push that issue, Aurion could tell him why he didn't care for humans. Turning the pages, " '87. It's older'n I am, heh." With a half shrug and a lighter tone. "I did grab the oldest, rattiest one I could find. Just in case I, y'know, broke it."
Posted by Cheshire on Nov 23, 2012 15:18:26 GMT -6
Mutant God
3,233
18
Sept 24, 2018 19:41:05 GMT -6
Calley
"Breaking it?" The cat deadpanned with a mild swish of his tail against the back of the lizard's neck. "You don't say. Yes, an urban one is full of slang. Slangtastic-slang, one might even say, such as 'stabbity-stab.' "
Which was, of course, a word.
The cat yawned; a delicate curl of tongue in the wide gap of its needle-rimmed mouth, that ended in a roll-flop-squiggle. The cat was now sprawled across the lizard's shoulder with its white belly pointing ceiling-wards, its paws tucked to its chest, and its spine reclining at an unnaturally steep angle. Mmmm, comfortable. Aurion's rough scales had enough friction to hold him in place, where a regular person's clothes might let him slide off. As any cat knew: the odder the angle, the more cozy it was to lounge in.
"Humans do plenty of stupid things," the cat commented in what could have been taken for agreement, or dissent, depending on the listener. "Publishing dictionaries, I do not think is one of them. Otherwise you wouldn't be reading it, mmm? Mmmm."
Mmmm. If he stretched out his paws out over his head like this, so he was the longest cat in the world... mmmmm. Yoga practitioners had nothing on cats.
"Are they stupid only when not useful to you, or is it a more specific stupidity that lends itself towards your utterance of nonspecific generalizations?"
'Racism' was towards the end; Aurion would get to it, eventually.
"So they have some good ideas and get a few things mostly right from time to time." He conceded. A dictionary was exactly one of those things that was a good idea and was done mostly right. "Doesn't mean they're not stupid in general." You didn't have to do much more than look out the windows to see examples of their daily stupidity. Of which, was how they treated mutant. That was a particularly sore spot with Aurion.
One that without meaning to, probably, Calley poked.
The words he used were bigger than Aurion was use to, but he got the message. As soon as his mind got it, his body went rigid, even his tail stopped. The only movement from him, was his hand. His grip tightening on the arm of the loveseat, making the lovely and unmistakeable sounds of cracking, tearing, crushing, breaking wood. Though he hadn't blinked since Calley's paws had been so close to his eye, his eyes took on a distant expression, as if focused somewhere else.
He was silent first because that's what normally happens when he remembered his time during his change and after it, until his parents' deaths. After those memories washed over him, he tried to think and figure out if he wanted to say any of it to Calley. If he did, how? When he thought about that, he thought of the difference between before, when he couldn't talk, and now when he could. Then he would have been very short and simple, because it was easier, but when words were so much easier to say and use...
He almost wanted to blurt it all out to explain, to tell it, tell why he hated humans, why he felt nothing when he killed them, how much he despised them. But, when he thought about all that, and thought about saying it, he felt like a pathetic piece of shit. Not because it wasn't a big deal, or something to be upset about..No. The words were sappy and pathetic, like a damn sob-story.
When he released the arm of the loveseat, wood fell to the floor in splinters, the stuffing followed it. He let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, then took a deep breath and let it out slowly. His tone was flat, but tight, nearly devoid of emotion. "If you had gone through and dealt with what I have, you'd hate'em too."