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 Aiden Killian on Oct 1, 2013 23:23:47 GMT -6
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Sept 12, 2017 15:21:55 GMT -6
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Aiden stared out the window. It wasn't quite raining, but the clouds scattered around had a certain gloom that wasn't at all out of place. Most of the trees weren't losing their leaves yet, but enough had given up on the season to collect in corners in that way that only dead leaves seemed to be able. It certainly was an appropriate mood, and the temperature was low enough to shrug off Aiden's nondescript hoodie, or so he'd been assured. He just knew he wasn't quite uncomfortably warm in the heavy clothing. What a way to wish for winter...
The drive had been awkward. Quiet. Aiden hadn't been feeling particularly talkative, even by his usual standards, though it was a very... level sort of reservation. It wasn't that he wasn't nervous; if nerves had nothing to do with it, he wouldn't be sitting here with his seatbelt on in the silent taxi. Still, he knew he'd get up eventually. And when he did, he wouldn't rush. He knew full well what was waiting for him. Today wasn't supposed to hold any surprises, though he did still worry that a certain few would show up anyway. That was part of why Cafas was there. To fend off any violent mobs rising out of the shifting brown leaves.
He may have also been there because Aiden really didn't want to walk through the graveyard alone, much less stand there alone. He hadn't quite realized that until they had reached the town. He'd started to feel a bit uncomfortable as they passed buildings he hadn't realized he'd known so well. When the road gradually shifted back to highway, trees cropping up again, some of the uncomfortableness had started to shift into a vague almost-nausea. They weren't going all the way down that highway. The graveyard was just at the north end of town. There was no need to go that far north.
It was going to get stuffy in that taxi eventually, though, and he didn't really need to be prompted. Ai's expression was neutral but for a slightly set jaw and a steady gaze that flicked around just in case someone, especially someone recognizable, showed up, even if his sunglasses had been tucked firmly into place as soon as he thought they were getting close to town and he knew very well that his scars were completely hidden. It was with a quiet, slow breath that he tucked his hair into his hood and pulled it firmly over his head, checked that his sunglasses were still properly placed, and climbed out of the car.
The drive was just as he'd expected it to be. He knew Aiden well enough by now to know it was going to be awkward. It was mostly silent. Even the driver seemed to sense the mood.
He'd dressed nice enough, though not too formal. He didn't want to draw too much attention, though with his hair that seemed like a lost cause.
They arrived, Cafas paid the driver. They got out and stood awkwardly by the side of the road. It seemed calm enough, not many people around. That was all for the better.
The cemetery was big enough, with some paths here and there. All the cemeteries he'd been to had been fields with stone slabs sticking up at random. Not that he went to many.
Posted by Aiden Killian on Oct 2, 2013 0:33:15 GMT -6
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Ready. "As I'll ever be," he replied softly. He tried not to glance to the south again; nothing was visible through the trees anyway, and they were not going there. That was completely out of the question. He wished the shiver that danced along his spine had anything at all to do with the theoretical chill.
He forced his attention back. There was one reason why he was there at all. He couldn't let himself try to skirt out of things now, no matter how much his instincts shied away from letting him start walking away from the car. He knew roughly where he was going. He'd never set foot here before, not really, but the paths were hardly convoluted. He picked the one that looked like it wandered the furthest back before he lost sight of it around the vague hill that the cemetery was built around. He tried not to flinch at every sound he wasn't certain was made by either himself or Cafas, but the graveyard was not an utterly silent place and he could only catch so many.
When he tried to make himself start looking at tombstones, though, uncertain of how close they were getting, that was even worse. His gaze just slid away from the markers, especially the ones that looked at all new. The really old ones, uncommon as they were along this stretch, were easier. Conri hadn't been dead for fifty or sixty or seventy years. There shouldn't be moss filling in the letters of his name or edges worn down by time and weather. He could look at those, but the rest... the rest just pricked a cold sweat along the back of his neck and wrapped slowly tightening knots around his lungs.
Cafas let Aiden lead the way. He only knew the rough location due to a photo of the burial, google maps and some applied geography. He couldn't have said where the exact spot was. He'd given Aiden what he knew already though, so they were working on pretty much the same information.
He was reading the gravestones as they passed them, he could see Aiden was having some trouble bringing himself to do it, and didn't want him to miss the spot by accident. There certainly were some odd names around the place was about all he had learned though.
There were people here and there in the cemetery, but they either didn't recognise Aiden, or the boy's fears had been wrong. Cafas suspected they were at least a bit over the top, but who knew? He probably would have done well to have had Aiden's fears himself. Instead he got his leg well done.
That joke hurt...
He put aside his musing on the past. It wasn't helping. Looking around he had to admit the area all looked rather similar to the photo. No one spot was glaringly THE spot. That was the trouble with well manicured lawns on hills with hundreds of similar pieces of stone jutting up. It had a habit of all looking the same.
Posted by Aiden Killian on Oct 2, 2013 2:24:52 GMT -6
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Some of the slabs had names that rang vague bells. Relatives of people he had known, or maybe just relatives of relatives. The headstones of the family whose car had ended up in one of the lakes back in middle school. He hadn't known any of them, but vaguely remembered being bored with the ceremony the school held. He regretted that now, if only for knowing how those who had known the victims felt and wishing he had at least respected it more. There'd probably been one for Conri. There wouldn't be too many bored people for that.
He figured he even knew which photo the school would start the thing with; it was an easy one to see even before his waking eyes. Conri -
Oh. Aiden had to swallow, even if his mouth and throat were dry past rasping, before he could even nod shakily. Okay was not a word he would use, but it was a nicer one. He could pretend to be okay. Maybe he could even convince himself that he was okay and not a few steps shy of bolting, of just running until this all receded back into the mists of imagination and memory and he could breathe again. He couldn't run, though; there was someone, just some elderly stranger, working their slow way past them, and at any rate he wasn't particularly confident in his knees at the moment.
He kept himself turned away from the other visitor until they were well past, keeping his right side furthest away just in case. He didn't recognize the face, but that was no guarantee the reverse was true. Reading the tombstones was the perfect excuse for disregarding the senior, even if it made his stomach contort itself almost as energetically as staring them down would have.
And even if he were too well attuned to his own name to not notice it beneath a scattering of leaves just one row away from the path.
He couldn't bring himself to walk closer. He couldn't bring himself to look away, either, not until his desperate eyes found some way to brush the excess leaves aside. He couldn't see all of the name. He couldn't see the date or the first name, but the plain, flush-set slab of polished rock looked new. So many things he couldn't do, and all he could do was stand frozen. Please let it be wrong. He shouldn't have come. This.. this made things way too real.
When Aiden stopped it took Cafas a moment to realise why. He looked around and didn't see anything likely to make him stop. No mobs of people. Nobody approaching. He didn't really think it was the right kind of stopping for finding the right spot, but when he finally decided to follow Aiden's line of sight (a hard task when he was always wearing sunglasses) He was a little surprised.
The last name was certainly right. That was hardly a guarantee though. It was certainly the right age, and the right general area. It was also very likely the reaction he should have been expecting. He stood by Aiden, wondering if the name behind the leaves was the one they were looking for.
"You don't have to do this today if you're not ready. We could come back another time." Though he was pretty sure if Aiden stood there long enough the wind would make that decision for him.
Posted by Aiden Killian on Oct 2, 2013 3:28:05 GMT -6
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Trying to force air in and out of his lungs was not quite distracting enough, regardless of which side of the give-up line he happened to be on with regards to pretending he could breathe evenly. This was a dream, wasn't it? A new nightmare. It really felt like it, the way every individual fibre of his body screamed at him to run but all he could do was stand there while a faint breeze teased at the edges of the leaves. No no no no
he didn't have to? Cafas' words split a nice ragged gap into his would-be breathing. That was reassuring.
No. No, he knew before he came that it would be bad but necessary. If he left now, the half-obscured stone would just torment him. He needed sleep, and he wasn't going to get that constantly worrying and wondering and beating himself up for being a pathetic coward. Cafas thought that he had been distracted enough to get someone killed before? That wouldn't even hold a candle to the self-abuse he expected he'd be doing if he took the easy route now.
Still, it was a long time before he could find it in himself to actually move. He was able to close his eyes for a moment, though, and that helped. His footing was uncertain despite the carefully levelled ground, but he did force himself to work his way around where he thought the first grave was. A closer inspection just let the leaves obscure the plaque's last name even more. He swallowed. Breathe. Breathe.
When he did manage to crouch down beside the stone, he had to close his eyes and turn his head away to brush the leaves free. Even when he couldn't feel the dry but not quite crisp touch of fairly fresh-fallen leaves, his fingertips shied away from the indents in the stone. He had to look eventually.
Cafas followed Aiden down to the grave. There was a chance this was't the right grave after all, and he didn't know how Aiden would handle that.
He watched him crouch down. Watched him turn away and brush away the leaves. Watched him as he checked the name. Cafas checked too. It was the right spot. He didn't know whether to be glad or if he should feel sad.
He put his hand gently on Aiden's shoulder and squeezed in the manner he had seen in many movies. "Take all the time you need." He gave the kid a couple of pats on the shoulder and turned away, walking up to the path again to give Aiden some space.
He stood and watched Aiden, feelings confused, and considering whether he should perhaps go confront his own past.
Posted by Aiden Killian on Oct 2, 2013 4:07:26 GMT -6
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CONRI KILLIAN
Nothing felt right. It was even harder to breathe; his air came in irregular bursts, sometimes rapid and jagged for a few moments, then impossible and nonexistent while he struggled to make his ribs move. The hoodie was way too warm but he couldn't take it off. He couldn't even risk flipping the hood back, and he probably couldn't actually do it if he tried.
CONRI KILLIAN
His crouch slowly degenerated as Cafas left until he was just sitting on the ground. The edge of the sole of one of his shoes dug into his thigh. It didn't matter. His shoulders seized as a raindrop dotted Conri's i. He brushed it aside. Not rain. Rain wasn't warm. The plaque was, though. It must have been sunny earlier in the day. His other hand found the edge of the stone too. He tugged weakly at a bit of grass, dead but still trying to reach over the stone for the sun's fading warmth. It shredded between his fingers.
He wanted to insist that this was a mistake. Conri shouldn't have a grave. Aiden didn't really have any proof he had died, not really. All he had was what the doctors and nurses had told him, what his parents hadn't refuted. He wanted to just deny it all. He'd been denying up until now, hadn't he? He'd told himself that Conri was dead so many times. He'd come to believe it, hadn't he? And then he'd thought he'd started to move past that.
A distantly rational part of his brain took no pleasure in noting that he wouldn't be in such physical pain and Conri's headstone wouldn't be quite so irregularly reflective if that were really true. Couldn't he refute that? It wasn't as if he could really see the stone anymore, even if his sunglasses had slipped off at some point. Or maybe he'd pulled them off to rub at his eyes. If it were the latter, the action had been utterly useless. He still couldn't see. Conri...
Posted by Aiden Killian on Oct 2, 2013 10:27:50 GMT -6
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Aiden eventually grew aware of his surroundings again. The wind was picking up a little, pressing against his hoodie and whistling into his hood if he moved his head just so. He wasn't sure what Cafas' cold tolerance was, but he didn't think it was too cold out. It was really hard to judge when his body seemed perfectly happy to just describe it as not-hot. He pulled a bit more grass out from the edges of the plaque, trying to only take one blade at a time to keep from leaving bare patches. He just wanted it to look neat. It was the least he could do.
He had thought about leaving something. That was a normal thing, wasn't it? But he had little enough to remind himself of Conri - on the days where he didn't just get nightmares from thinking too much - and he shouldn't leave any identifiable trace behind. If he couldn't bring himself to face the risk of coming alone, how could he justify the risk of giving anyone any lead that could let him be traced? Sure, he was pretty sure there wasn't much any crazy small-town mobs could do to the mansion, but it wasn't all that far from here and he couldn't stay on the grounds forever. Better that no one know anything.
"Aiden?"
That wasn't Cafas. Cafas did not sound like an olderish woman. Aiden swallowed. The voice seemed a bit familiar. He drew a hand back very slowly and slid his sunglasses back on. Was his breathing picking up again? No no no he had to look calm. Ish. Some level of distress should be acceptable, given the circumstances. Where was Cafas? He couldn't turn around and look. Dry throat again yay. Didn't stop him from needing to swallow. He pressed one hand against his brother's plaque before leaning on it to get back to his feet.
"It is you! It's so good to see you back!" The woman was pretty nondescript as middle-age-and-beyond-but-not-quite-senior women went, and she was utterly ignoring Cafas. Was it the hair? What could Cafas do if she just utterly ignored him? "Your parents didn't mention you were back from rehab. You look good!"
After some time Cafas' attention began to drift. He could hardly be blamed. It was a lame day in a quiet cemetery.
A voice broke through his daze.
Well, that's probably not good.
He hung back a moment. The woman either hadn't noticed him or was purposefully ignoring him. Either way she didn't seem to realise he was with Aiden.
She seemed to think he'd been in rehab. What for she didn't say. He suspected, if his parents still gave a damn about him, that it would be for an injury. One never knew what they had actually told people though.
It seems at least that they did not wish to tell people Aiden is a mutant. Though do they know?
At any rate the woman seemed pleased enough to see him. He suspected Aiden was less than pleased to see her, and so approached.
Aiden was being remarkably quiet. He clearly did not wish to be speaking to this person, but Cafas couldn't really do much to bail him out. Not without being rude. He sure as heck could help him through the encounter though.
"Hi! How do you know Aiden?"
Cafas put a hand on Aidens back, between the shoulders, to let him know he was there for him. He also shot him a quick look to suggest that having this conversation may be easier than not.
Posted by Aiden Killian on Oct 3, 2013 12:31:19 GMT -6
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It was a lot easier to pretend he could breathe once he saw Cafas sliding in. Not much easier to actually breathe, but pretending to he could do. It was also very easy to start wishing he was a telepath. Oh! or a teleport, so he could get out of there. Especially since he had placed the woman; she lived down the road from his parents and was quite social, if on the preachy side of religious. She'd always seemed harmless. Religion didn't seem very harmless anymore.
He hoped Cafas couldn't feel him shaking. There was something to be said for reputations and saving face, such as they were, after all, even if Aiden really wasn't as focused on making them amazing and awesome as some people seemed to be.
He cringed a little inside as the woman... gah, he knew he knew her name, but his tongue was evidently as freaked out as the rest of him... slowly turned her head to eye Cafas with open disapproval. When she spoke, however, her tone was reasonably friendly. It just had a bit of a don't you see how superior and holy I am? I'm not even going to judge your unnatural sins because I know exactly where you're going to it. "Why, he's lived his entire life just a few houses down our quiet little road! How could I possibly not know him?"
And then she turned her entire attention back to Aiden. "Oh, forgive my manners! I was just so excited to see you out and about. I felt so terribly bad for you when I heard you couldn't even make it out of the hospital for your dear brother's funeral!" Oh please no. Please please please no. "It was a wonderful service, though. I'm sure you've heard. Not a dry eye in the crowd! Such a pity you couldn't make it." Oh wonderful. He wasn't aware that he could feel any worse today, but apparently it was very possible! "So, are you going to be getting back to school soon? You've missed so much."
There was only one thing that he had missed or would continue to miss, and it most definitely was not school. "No," he said, finding his tone a little on the clipped side. "This is temporary and special." Meaning GO AWAY. Making him feel like crap was one thing, going on about his brother's funeral in such a cheerful tone was way out of line.
Oh yeah, this lady didn't like him. Cafas wondered if she'd even know he was an X-man... He couldn't risk it, the PR would be terrible. They really couldn't be dealing with that after CS. He sighed.
Aiden, to his credit, blew her off in a very inoffensive manner. Cafas felt like just throwing her as far as he could and seeing if she got the message. "Well, you surely will not mind if I join you for this special visit. Everyone will be dying to hear how you have been."
She completely turned her back on Cafas. Now that was unsubtle. Cafas grit his teeth and fell in beside Aiden. He slung an arm around his shoulders in a caring sort of way. "You just let me know when you're ready to go bud." Cafas looked across at the woman and looked her straight in the eye. He knew his eyes would be some crazy combination of colours at that moment. That ought to throw her for a loop.
Let's compound it!
Cafas slowly drew a coin out of his pocket and up to where the woman could see. He had broken eye contact, and was absent mindedly flicking it for a few minutes. Then he melted it. He wished he could look at her face without being too obvious.
Posted by Aiden Killian on Oct 3, 2013 17:07:35 GMT -6
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Join...?
Dying? Really? That was the word Mrs. Bleckard picked? Oh right, that was her name. Not something he really wanted to have to remember.
Alone, Aiden probably would have stayed there all day. And... possibly all night. It was easier to think about painful things, both in that they crept up with less restraint and because there was something real to touch, by Conri's grave. There would be none of that with a former neighbour around, however, just awkward conversations and lies and quite possibly a final result of another newspaper article about a mutant kid being beaten to death by a bunch of humans. The car accident could well have sucked up all his survival luck; he did not want to test it.
He wasn't alone, though: Cafas was there, and Cafas was picking on at least some of the awkward fear clawing desperate holes in Ai's skull. Or at least the awkwardness of being completely ignored. He took a deep breath, and with the weight of Cafas' arm across his shoulders it actually had enough air in it. He would have liked to have been able to stay longer.
He was about to open his mouth when Cafas pulled something out of his pocket. What was he - a coin? Okay. "We can go," he said quietly as his gaze slid back to the ground. He wished he could stay... but not if Mrs. Bleckard were so eager to hang around.
He looked back up at either the right or wrong moment. He was just in time to see the coin in Cafas' hand vanish. And see Mrs. Bleckard notice.
If it didn't make him want to go find some large, indestructible safe to hide in, he might have been amused as a moment of confusion faded, the colour drained from her face, and she went utterly still. Aiden retreated towards Cafas. Really time to go... Really. The woman didn't seem inclined to do anything on the spot, but the connections were definitely made in her head. Her gaze flicked to Aiden, full of concern fading into cold speculation, and then she turned and began briskly walking away. Aiden caught sight of a bit of movement, a bit of something white grasped in one little gloved hand. Was it over? Nervous relief started to bat at the nervous terror trying to keep his muscles occupied.
"That was pretty much the reaction I was expecting. Sorry to cut this short on you, but our safety ended the minute she recognised you." Cafas began, calmly as possible, guiding Aiden back out of the cemetery. He didn't like the way she had spoken to him, or looked at him. He'd seen enough of that.
How are we getting out of town?
He couldn't rely on a cab, it was too far to walk, he didn't have any back up on call. He knew he had made an exit strategy. He wasn't sure what it had been though.
Oh... that's right.
He quickened his pace. He could hear the warning signs. He'd done enough work during the riots to pick up on it. He doubted Aiden would. If he did the kid had much more natural talent as an X-man than Cafas could hope to muster.
We are about to not want to be here.
He saw it up ahead, parked right where he'd left it. Not a scratch, and better yet, not a ticket. He ushered Aiden towards it. "Rule number one of unpredictable missions. Prepare an exit strategy." Cafas reached up under the wheel housing, found the key, and unlocked the car. He was sure no one at the mansion had missed it.