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.
"I don't know that I've ever tried to sleep in a car outside of being a child." Before she learned to drive, cars were, really, quite boring and with all the mass transit around, she'd hardly needed to do more than move Sebastian and Garret's ambulance/hearse thing out of the road.
It was a brave new world outside. Still toasty. Still humid. Maya sensed the group of cameramen just at the comfortable edge of her spatial awareness. After a moment's deliberation, she sent a little extra gentle convection cooling the paparazzis' way. Whatever their reasons for acting like vultures, if she could make their days a little better, she would. For that matter, Maya slid her arm underneath Cafas' jacket between his back and the heavy cloth and gave him a bit of air conditioning as they walked. If she would do it for her 'enemies' why wouldn't she do it for the guy she actually liked? The air exiting his collar tickled the ends of his pink hair.
> "I don't think this will be forever either."
"Oh, definitely not. Unless you do more work, you will probably become boring as the rest of us." And because of the whole 'limited time' thing, but she always felt like such a downer when she brought that up. Also, eavesdropping could be a thing. Rag magazines didn't employ psychics did they? Maya's spine stiffened as she thought of it and she had to resist the urge to turn around a look. Looking would not help her pick out a psychic even if there was one.
Did sweet people hide? Sometimes she just needed to hide. Maya shook herself back into a "sweet" mindset as they approached the restaurant, some place local. At least, it wasn't a place she recognized from New York. "It's weird that stuff here is so different." And yet, some things were eerily similar. Like the chalkboard daily special signs, a hasty waiter, and getting a seat on the patio to enjoy the warmth.
Maya took a seat next to Cafas instead of sitting across from him. She liked him in easy reach more than she liked looking at him eat. Plus, it gave both of them an unobstructed view of the camera people, which meant they got their photo op and no one was sneaking up on anyone.
"I think this place is entirely vegetarian." Maya rolled her lips in on themselves to keep from being too obviously excited. It wasn't an ethnic restaurant that might be vegetarian because of religious reasons or cultural preference. It was just a choice. A lifestyle choice, she guessed. "Avocado is on everything!" She turned to Cafas, only partially joking. "Can we move here?"
Cafas fought and failed to suppress a shiver running up his spine as Maya provided his some air circulation. It was inexpressibly nice... and tickled. Whose idea had the jacket been? Stupid jacket, being of solid and quality construction, serving its purpose. Perhaps the woman that had dressed him had earned her pardon though.
"Oh, definitely not. Unless you do more work, you will probably become boring as the rest of us."
"The rest of us world-saving ex-vigilantes come official deputies? Sounds terrible, I'll clearly have to get more work that takes me away for months." Cafas smiled, but inside he knew the reason that wasn't going to happen. They didn't have spare months. It was enough strain on relationships without deadlines. His arm wrapped around Maya's waist, hand resting comfortably enough on her hip, just in time to feel her back stiffen. He thought it better not to ask in case it was something that shouldn't be overheard.
Maya's comments on LA's strangeness was preaching to the choir. Cafas couldn't get over all the restaurants for strange diets or gyms for weird workouts. What even was Zumba anyway? Apparently it was a thing people did and thought it worked better than any other kind of high intensity workout.
Service was on point. The following of paparazzi did come with its benefits. Cafas took his jacket off to sit, because creases, and also because they were sitting in the open air. It was far too hot for fashionable nonsense. He quickly kissed Maya's cheek as the semi-corporeal waif picked up her menu.
"I think this place is entirely vegetarian."
Cafas had noticed that too, as he browsed his own menu. He wasn't entirely sure how he was going to keep up his caloric intake with just vegetarian food. The answer soon presented itself. Avocado and cheese. One omnipresent, the other less so. Had to cater to vegans.
"Avocado is on everything!"
She was so excited by it. Cafas marked that away in his brain. "Literally. Plus they offer it as a side. Do these guys have a major stake in an avocado farm or something?" Maya's excitement was infectious. For Cafas though, it manifested as a bout of good humour. The agency visit had robbed him of quite a lot of that.
"Can we move here?"
He'd already entertained the idea once that day. He'd entertain it further with the added benefit of having Maya there to enjoy it with him. "Sure, but you have to tell Sam we're quitting. That should go over like a lead balloon." Cafas answered, only partly joking himself. It would be nice to just move out to L.A. and live peacefully as a family. Maybe focus more time on figuring out if Maya could be helped.
The waiter returned with water that he assured them had been collected from the purest of mountain springs. Cafas didn't really care, but it seemed important to the guy, so he did his best to look interested and make appropriate interested noises.
"Are you ready to order? Drinks? All our tea and coffee is organic, single origin, fair trade approved. We also have fresh juices from the same organic, low food mileage fruit and vegetables our meals are prepared from. A list of ingredients is just there under juices."
Oh yeah, this place had L.A. all over it. Not that Cafas didn't support all that stuff, but it felt a little preachy the way the guy said it. "I'm going to need a minute on food, but I'd love a juice. Your favourite, make it a surprise. One for you too, it's too hot to be working without a drink." Cafas smiled a good natured smile. He trusted the guy to either follow through, or give him something generically popular. Either way, he didn't mind. It was more the sugars he wanted. He was, despite himself, a little excited to see what he got.
"Oh, thank you, but I couldn't possibly..."
"It's fine, really. You're on your feet all day, you need to drink something with electrolytes." He couldn't tell if the rejection had just been for the sake of politeness. The bloke looked like he could use a drink, honestly.
Cafas could use a drink
Nope. No. Not happening. His hand found Maya's thigh to give him strength not to even ask.
"Okay, you've convinced me!" The waiter laughed, "Thank you very much. For you Miss? If you have any questions about anything on the menu I'd be happy to answer them."
"World-saving ex-vigilantes sounds way more exciting than the reality." Maya wrinkled her nose at Cafas and jumped when a camera flashed. She'd actually forgotten about them for a brief moment. "Uhm." It took her a second of tucking her hair behind her ear to pick up her train of thought.
"And, uh, oh! And there's no way I'm telling Sam. You tell Sam. He's got blackmail." Oh man. The thought of Alfie's face if he knew the photos Sam kept on his phone sent Maya into a bout of giggles that she had to cover with a hand and reign in before she had to explain herself to Cafas in front of the approaching waiter.
Later She mouthed. If they remembered, that was.
Maya was enraptured with all the things their waiter shared. She was always glad not to have opened a restaurant instead of a bookstore, but this place was so amazing that she almost reconsidered for a moment. "Nobody back home serves artesian spring water." She was really impressed. Who knew they were eating so wrong before?
Plus, avocado fries. Mind. Blown. "How do you fry an avocado?" Didn't matter because they were so about to find out. She canceled her request for explanation and simply ordered some for an appetizer. It was probably breaded one flake of handwrought panko at a time, as all food should be.
"The water is fine, thank you!" Maya was too engrossed in the menu to bother about juice. "Look!" Okay. It didn't matter if Cafas had a menu because Maya was pointing at hers again. "There's nutburger patties." What in the world? "How do you make a veggie patty out of nuts?" The picture was helpfully unhelpful in that it looked rather normal aside from the large wheat berry bun. "Ah. No. I'm sorry, if you answer all my questions, we'll be here all day. I think that's just another thing I'm just going to have to discover myself. Can I have that? California style looks good." And seemed appropriate. Alfalfa sprouts were so good.
"Awesome. We can do that." The waiter scribbled on the ubiquitous waiter pad. "Okay, you can have organic, air popped soy chips in a variety of flavors or rosemary scented cannaloni beans for your side. Also comes with a pickle."
"Beans, please!" This place was the best. Maya finished ordering before Cafas had even gotten his juice. She traded her menu for the promise of a paper take out menu that she could study and take home.
Cafas was having fun watching Maya dance excitedly through the menu on a cloud of vegetarian bliss. The waiter seemed overjoyed to have someone so enthusiastic. He did his best to start answers before Maya cut him off repeatedly.
"Look! There's nutburger patties."
How could he not? With the pointing, and the trowing of her menu in front of his eyes. Nutburger patties didn't sound that exciting, but Cafas wasn't going to be a downer. He gave a hearty smile and a "Cool!" Nope, his opinion was unnecessary, she was already ordering it. Cafas took a glance over the food, trying hard to make a decision. There just didn't feel like enough time to consider it.
Why do I only understand half this menu? It all looks like english...
Maya finished ordering, and the waiter turned to Cafas again. He didn't panic... Okay, he did, but his brain wasn't working fast enough! It was time to decide so it just grabbed for something it had been told earlier. "I've heard good things about the portobello burger, so I'll grab that, thanks." He smiled like he had come to that decision all on his lonesome.
"Sure, Cali style too?"
What? Other styles? Cafas' eyes tried for the menu but they weren't working fast enough for him. "Yes please! Uh, beans too please." What was California style? Well, he supposed he was finding out later, because the menu had already been swiftly removed from his loose hold. The waiter walked away with another smile for Maya, and left Cafas' brain to berate itself for being so slow.
... Idiot.
"If you're serious, I can," He turned to face Maya and smiled to assure her that he meant it, "but I actually get the feeling Sam's not so fond of me some times. I don't think telling him I'm quitting and taking you with me will do much for that. Plus Rowan seems to really like him, so it might be unfair to take him away." He wasn't making excuses, or at least he was fairly sure he wasn't. He was just thinking through decisions, something that didn't come very easily and thus was best done aloud.
Speaking of Rowan, Cafas' expression shifted to concern. "Did you get a hold of someone that had seen Ro and Jude?" Maya being on her phone while they were together probably wouldn't go over amazingly if photographed, but the boys were at least a thousand times more important than any trashy magazines photo caption.
So... was she serious? Maya paused with her water mere millimeters from her lips.
She could leave New York and live the rest of her days here in sunshine and moderate weather.
A camera click and Cafas' self-doubt let Maya shed that thought without guilt. Nah. That would feel too much like running away, wouldn't it?
"Sam doesn't dislike you. He dislikes everybody." That actually had been intended to make him feel better. Maya set her glass down and tried again. "I just mean, he's trying. He doesn't get a lot of leeway in his position and he doesn't allow himself a lot of forgiveness. It makes him grumpy with almost everybody else."
> "Plus Rowan seems to really like him, so it might be unfair to take him away."
Crap! Rowan! Maya was already digging for her phone by the time Cafas asked. A fresh wave of mommy guilt ran through her system. "There was a time when I wouldn't even let the kid out of my sight, let alone-" The elemental trailed off, her sentence forgotten. She had a text from Jude and a text from Zinnia to read through and analyze. She ignored the 24 from the California number that was most likely Alfie.
She pursed her lips together in the most mom look she'd worn since they stepped off the plane. "The kids are fine. Hide and seek apparently. They're going home now." Inhale tension, exhale forgiveness. And, oh hey! Food!
Well, at least Steel was that way with everyone. Almost everyone, he guessed. Rowan liking him made Cafas pretty certain the man had to be treating Rowan better than he was Cafas.
Cafas watched Maya's face shift into a look he hoped to never be on the receiving end of... Again. He'd earned that one once or twice and it was still somehow effective on a twenty five year old man that was twice her size and nearly triple her weight. It had lost something during the speed dating, when half her face wasn't complying quite as quickly as the other.
"The kids are fine. Hide and seek apparently. They're going home now."
"I'm glad they're safe. That look says Jude wont escape this unscathed though." Cafas suspected Maya would have forgiven him by the time they got back. It was just her way. The metal manipulator might have considered a short chat to Jude himself, but it wouldn't do any good. Jude seemed to respect him about as much as any teenager.
Delicious food was brought, and eaten relatively carefully for the media types. Cafas enjoyed it more than he had expected to. He'd never really tried anything made by vegetarians, for vegetarians. It was just as satisfying (though nowhere near as heavy) as food with meat.
One address later, and a quick stop to change outfits, they were on their way to the hospital. Cafas felt like we would probably die of heatstroke if Maya kept making him wear jackets. luckily she was walking air-con, which he intended to abuse to the best of his abilities.
"We should take gifts, shouldn't we... Also make a donation. I don't have any novelty checks, but I think I grabbed my checkbook on the way out..." The whole affair was making Cafas nervous. It was going to be upsetting enough without screwing it up. He couldn't just punch his way out of the situation, either.
As weird as California was, it was really the paparazzi rules that made the whole thing surreal. It was silly to change clothes, but they were following those rules that promised better pictures. Maya picked out a longer skirt this time because it wouldn't do to flash little kids. The blush pink material brought out echoes of the color in her skin.
"Hey." Maya put her hand on top of Cafas to calm his frantic digging through his bags. "I don't think they care what physical size the check is and I frankly don't care about the pictures." She tried to measure his reaction in his eyes, always glad to have some honest indication of how badly she might be screwing up. It just didn't feel right. "I love you and I don't want to damage your chances for work and all that, but can we...? Ugh. Okay. Let's exercise the lamest possible passive resistance. We're going to the hospital." There was mischief brewing in her eyes. "We're just not going to his hospital."
Marketing surveys maintain that the absolute worst way to market to the current generation, is to market to the current generation. She frowned and marked all her messaged from Alfie as read. A polished pitch turned Maya off to the message. She craved honesty and authenticity. Would the kids be disappointed? Maybe. She couldn't fathom that any of them really knew who Cafas was from the movies, though. Maybe as an X, but here on the opposite coast they had their own heroes.
It was wrong to bring checks as big as your arm just because it made for better photos at thumbnail size. It was wrong to want photos at all. A quick Google search took Cafas and Maya not to the highly funded, celebrity backed St. Jude's cancer ward but to a bodega mini-mart, then a dollar store, and finally the NICU in a part of town Maya wouldn't want to be caught in after dark even with super powers.
She helped Cafas to pass out the little packages they'd thrown together of water bottles and snacks and coffees. They had enough fresh, plain t-shirts and 5-hour Energy drinks for any who wanted them, including the nursing staff.
The little bodies in the big plastic boxes might only be there for the blink of an eye. No one wanted to leave, not even for food. Especially not for sleep. Maya didn't dare visit the kids for fear of infection, but it was easy enough to engage the parents in conversation. They all had rational worries and fears that she could speak to. And for some of them, it had just been a long time since they'd talked to a non-medical person, that anyone would do, hero or not.
For Maya's part, she listened and offered gentle words of encouragement. How did she know it got better? Because she'd been there with premature twins born on the floor of a Chinese restaurant. Her trip to the hospital had been a bit of a blur, admittedly, but the weeks of NICU visits afterward were crystal clear. She went into the hospital with two babies and came home with one. It was both a story of hope and one of reality. Some of them would go home empty handed.
By the end of their visit, she'd cried away most of her makeup and wrinkled her fancy clothes from hugs and hand holding. Emotionally drained, there was only one hand she wanted to hold.
He was swamped with nursing staff, not from their movie-based fanaticism (though there'd been an initial rush of that), but now for thank yous about the thoughtful gifts and the time they'd spent just listening and being there. "Cafas." Maya offered her hand to the metal manipulator through the group of people. She'd turned off her phone once the worried texts had started rolling in from Alfie. Everyone in the NICU looked a little less droopy when they left, though. "Thanks." She bumped her shoulder against his.
He hadn't been able to say not to her. See, he'd known it would stir up all sorts of trouble for him. Mostly just with the agency. Going to a hospital was more than enough for the media. He'd thought about it, thought about pushing for Alfie's specific hospital. The look in Maya's eyes told him not to though. It meant more to her than it ever would to Alfie. Enough photos were taken and put online anyway, the media got it and ran with it and all was well.
Cafas went into the hospital thinking he knew what it was to be exhausted. As it turned out, he was wrong. So wrong. It had taken so much out of him to listen to the parents, the siblings, the nurses, the doctors. All filled with stress, and worry, and dreams of futures for children that, for far more than was fair, didn't have any.
Cafas had worked his way through two travel packs of Kleenex. He'd tried to keep his cool, but he'd given up on the idea quickly. He just focused then on doing his best to listen to those that needed listening to, and distract those that needed distracting. His comforting felt... Hollow. He had no idea what anyone there was going through, and he knew it. Still, hugs were given out liberally.
He kept something of an eye on Maya, but she was far more the natural in the circumstances. At least, he very much hoped it as just a natural empathy. She had insisted though... No... Cafas put it aside before that made him cry too.
"Cafas."
He was passing out coffees to nurses when Maya came and got him. He hoped she hadn't been looking for him too long. As it turned out, a couple dozen coffees took quite some time to make, and transporting them was not something he had initially thought through.
He allowed himself to be pulled away, though not too quickly. There were goodbyes to be said.
"Thanks"
He'd have returned the shoulder nudge if he didn't suspect he'd knock Maya over. He settled for a squeeze of her hand and a tired smile. "Nah, thank you. I'd kind of forgotten what it felt like to do some good." Being an X-man just didn't feel the same. How could it? All he'd done in forever was beat up criminal mutants and save the occasional hostage.
The light was fading as they stepped out. If he'd had the emotional energy to be on edge, he would have been. It made perfect sense, that was why Maya had picked that hospital, after all. Bad neighborhood. No doubt in more need than any with regular celeb visits. Their driver didn't look exactly ecstatic to be there. Cafas slumped himself into a back seat. "Somewhere with good coffee, mate." He trusted the guy knew a place. Cafas slid the little window closed.
"So..." Cafas sighed and wished he didn't feel the need to ask, "Why an NICU in particular?" His motive was written all over his face. He lacked the energy for guile or the pretense that he didn't have his suspicions. It just said, I feel like I know and I'm so, so sorry and I'm here for you.
Coffee sounded amazing. Maya sank into the back seat of the vehicle, glad to note a serious lack of cameras pointed in their direction. The car pulled away from the hospital and a small amount of tension eased inside of her when the building receded, exposing a neon sunset sky. They'd spent the rest of their day inside and she felt the weight of every moment. It had been good, but hard. Harder to be in that situation, but still hard to see even from the outside.
"I tried to think of the least glamorous place where I knew enough to be helpful. It's likely to be the only part of a hospital with which I am familiar. There are no great photo opportunities, just people who are stretched too thin."
Abandoning the window, Maya looked over Cafas. He was soul weary. Sick kids weren't an easy thing to see. They'd learned a lot of names and heard a lot of odds of survival. They wouldn't have been in intensive care if they were guaranteed so every parent had been clinging to a number.
This wasn't a great way for him to find out. She probably should have told him before. Or during. Or, maybe there just wasn't a good time ever. She didn't want him to worry and she didn't want him to cry any more.
"Rowan and his brother were born early. Twins come early a lot of the time..." Unconsciously Maya circled a hand around her wrist. She'd voluntarily worn a shock bracelet the entire pregnancy. Ghosting would have been a very, very bad idea and sometimes it just happened. She'd needed the extra protection.
"I don't remember a lot of the trip to the hospital for me, but even after I was discharged they had to keep the boys. Their lungs were underdeveloped and there's just a host of things that suck when they're so little." Her lower lids were filling with tears. Damn. She'd been doing so well in staying disconnected with her story, but their visit was just too recent. The smell of the place was on her clothes. The location was different, but incubation boxes and gloves and their tiny little hands... all of that was exactly the same.
For a brief moment, she thought she might throw up. That was not an avenue of thought she was prepared to go down today. Maya shut it down quick so she could get back to answering Cafas' question. Why a NICU? She smeared the tear trails from her cheeks as she refocused.
"It was weeks of back and forth. So I know what I wished I'd had. I know what things made me crazy to hear and what I'd wished someone would have asked me."
She felt the car slow to a stop and was more than a little alarmed when the driver asked if the place he chose was alright. Maya dabbed at her eyes even though her face was just a lost cause.
Hugs were tricky in the back seat of a vehicle, at least when you wore a seatbelt. It ended up more of a one armed squeeze than a hug.
Cafas didn't know what to say. He'd kind of expected something along those lines. His logic hadn't failed him. His tired brain, however, was failing him. Having spent half a day listening to the same sorts of stories, told from the midpoint, turned out to be inadequate for comforting the woman he loved.
His emotions didn't know what to do either. They were simply too exhausted to properly respond. His face screwed itself into a sympathetic frown, and it was genuine, but he felt like he should be feeling something more. More accurately, more something. It was likely a sign of how hollow the experience had left him, emotionally, that he was struggling to muster strong emotions even for Maya.
That feels like I've failed somehow...
"I'm so sorry, sweetheart." He hadn't even known Rowan was a twin. Unspoken logic filled in the blanks in the story. It was heartbreaking, or at least, it might have been, if his heart had been anything more than a dust of atoms already. Cafas planted a light kiss onto Maya's hair.
The driver seemed like he could sense something was going on, because his professional confidence was broken. Cafas looked at him with a wan smile and nodded. "Yeah man, it's good. Give us a sec." The driver nodded and turned back around. Cafas peeked out the window at what appeared to be a suitably hipsterish coffee place as he fished a tissue from a pouch behind the driver's seat.
Good thing, I'm totally out.
The metal manipulator gently turned his girlfriend's face by the chin, so that she was looking at him. "I love you, and I'm always here when life is too much. Now, let's do something about those panda eyes." He thumb-stroked her jaw gently as he did what he could for her makeup. It was more a removal job than a repair job, but in a little over a minute of work, with the occasional flitting eye contact, Maya was at least presentable, by make up standards.
Okay, deep breath and ready to face the world.
"There, and here I was thinking you couldn't get more beautiful." Cafas winked jokingly as he pulled his hand somewhat reluctantly from Maya's chin. He could feel the second wind building, bringing his brain back into working order, and trying to do what it could for his emotional situation. "Let's get some coffee in you. It's been a ..." Cafas bit off the expletive that wanted to escape, "Long day."
And then some...
He stepped out of the car, smoothing his shirt and jacket some, and smiling, just in case. A few short steps carried him to Maya's door, where he helped her from the car, to an inside table with lovely old couches to sit on. "Feels like an extra shot sort of evening, what do you think?"
Maya felt like a bundle of yarn with people pulling on her varied strands. Some people pulled the knots tighter and some people, like Cafas, tugged the perfect strings to make her unravel. She put her hands in her hair and cradled her head as he side-hugged her. She just had to take that moment to be sad and to acknowledge the feeling, otherwise it would never go away.
"Nope. I'm not doing this today." She let out a shaky sigh and pulled herself out of Cafas' embrace while she worked to fold up and pack away all the things that made those tears spill over. Maya'd gotten pretty good at the emotional avoidance thing. It helped that, after a day like today, she just didn't have a whole lot of tears left.
She laughed, a sort of strangled sound, but still an overall positive when he took her face in his hands. "It's not that it's too much. I'm greedy. It's just never enough." She always wanted more. More time. More kids. More life.
It took her a second to muddle through the panda comment. Oh the mascara. She'd already had to do damage control before they left the hospital, by now there had to be nothing left.
> "There, and here I was thinking you couldn't get more beautiful."
That got him a nose wrinkle. She was blotchy and puffy, pink in the cheeks and eyes, and all around flustered. Still. It was easier to find her smile when she had someone in her corner. And he was even getting her door. "Wait? Who's the movie star here?" She teased him. Teasing was definitely a step up.
> "Feels like an extra shot sort of evening, what do you think?"
"Really, all I want to do is go home and get into bed." The with you was heavily implied with her expressive eyes. "Or a hot tub. Does our hotel have a hot tub?" Didn't matter because he'd asked about coffee. "Get me whatever you get."
A double shot this late was probably a bad idea, but she wasn't about to say no. She could, instead, pretend the extra caffeine propelled their evening forward. She understood the practicality of having one person wait and save seats on the most popular destination couches while the other fetched drinks, but she didn't have to like it. She did, however, have to turn her phone back on.
It tripped over itself to make all the notification sounds for every text, voicemail, and push notification she'd received since she'd switched it off at the hospital. Somewhere in the wash of messages were a few from back home. Everybody was still okay.
"Movie star? Where?" His head turned this way and that, searching for the movie star as they walked to the seats. He knew, he really did, but he just wanted to pretend he wasn't for a while. What was the point of being an actor if you couldn't play make believe.
"Really, all I want to do is go home and get into bed. Or a hot tub. Does our hotel have a hot tub? Get me whatever you get."
Cafas couldn't immediately recall if the hotel had a hot tub. He couldn't immediately recall much of anything with Maya's eyes making suggestions. Perhaps those suggestions were innocent, but Cafas' brain followed them straight to the gutter. It was a good thing she was going to have what he did, because he wasn't sure he'd have remembered her order between their table and the counter.
He ordered coffee from a barista that held her cool like a champion. Clearly their river knew what he was doing, because the entire staff seemed used to dealing with celebrities. Cafas kind of wished they didn't need the practiced polish with him, but they couldn't afford the risk that he was more Russell Crowe than a Chris Pratt.
He returned to their table with a table number and a smile of recollection. "We do have a hot tub! Or not, if you changed your mind. They didn't have coconut milk, I got soy." Cafas practically jumped into his chair, bouncing slightly on the sprung cushions. It felt good to sit. The car ride over had done nothing to ease the tension in his standing up muscles.
"So! I believe the most beautiful woman in the world had something she was waiting until later to talk about?" It was the sort of cafe smell that had reminded him of that too. Plus, he felt the need to shift the topic, because Maya didn't want to talk about it.
Hot tub. Even if it was warm and muggy here, that was definitely on her to-do list for the evening. New York winters made her dream of that kind of thing, lack of sensitivity or not.
Maya cradled the coffee cup and brought it to her lips without actually drinking. The first moments of coffee were always reserved for the smell. "No coconut milk?" She tutted from behind the lip of her cup. "Your manbun theory is fast slipping."
> "So! I believe the most beautiful woman in the world had something she was waiting until later to talk about?"
"Do I?" She flushed with the realization that Cafas had trained her to respond to 'most beautiful woman in the world.' Maya lowered her cup. "It's kinda been a rollercoaster day, honey. I can't remember squat. I'm not trying to duck out of it..." She had a vague recollection of something at lunch, but that was a lifetime ago.
She sipped her coffee thoughtfully. Something about a lead balloon...?
"Oh. Sam." It finally clicked into place. Sheesh. Where to start? "We've had a long time to dig each other's dirt, Cafas. We became X-men around the same time, had a lot of missions and all that." She inspected Cafas to see if he might let her get away with that little. Yeah? No?
She sighed. No. She could already tell he wasn't.
"You're not... uhh.." Maya looked around. As much as she wanted to refrain from arousing suspicion, she wanted even less to be overheard. She motioned for Cafas to bring it in close. "Please don't think less of me, but Sam took me out drinking for the first time. Like my first drink? Which, of course, turned into a lot more than just one. He said I was too uptight." She resettled herself after the statement. Sam had not been the only one to think her stiff or unapproachable back then.
"I told you he has blackmail, right? They're pictures." She chewed her lip and glanced around again. "Not like naked, thank goodness, but... uhh... kissing and..." Her face burned. It was a harder confession than she'd been expecting. "Spanking." And that wasn't even the worst part. Maya's cup bent between her fingers and a foot tapped with nervous energy of keeping the final, worst revelation of her life a secret.
"I went home with him, but we never— thank goodness. I mean, until Sebastian I was... But I don't think he knows who the guy is in the pictures. I mean, I didn't, at the time." But she knew better now. Oh brother, did she know better now.
Cafas hadn't considered the implications of coconut milk on the man-bun hipster relationship. Did the power of better coffee actually extend to a greater selection of milks? Was it limited to only the actual coffee? Was it entirely possible to have a man-bun and only have regular cow's milk if you were a barista? Such questions would plague him for exactly ten seconds before being filed away to never see the light of day again, hopefully.
"He's the exception that proves the rule, clearly."
His further inquiries into Sam's blackmail resulted in an almost conspiratorial leaning in, so as not to be overheard. Cafas resisted the urge to close the rest of the distance between their mouths, though it was a hard won battle between his curiosity and his affection. His finger did boop her nose though, because he was an adult.
Blackmail on Maya Csendes. I suppose now I find out if Sam's phone needs to be lodged deeply into the man himself.
What followed put aside the thoughts of hipsters and coffee, to be replaced by a growing, poorly suppressed grin. If kissing and spanking from a pre-Sebastian era were the worst of it, then what Sam really had was nothing, right?
"What's so bad about that? I mean really, I've been drunk a lot, kissing and spanking aren't even close to the worst thing that can result from the process." You could, for instance, end up in an alley, streaked with tears and blood, kissing a married woman before breaking up with your boyfriend. Photos of that could be truly disastrous.
Not without a time and date! Could be any dang time, otherwise. Well... The clothes might give it away.
"Or is it more the who than the what? I mean, compared to the photos on your phone of your new friend, how bad can it be?" Because those leaking from a credible source would also be pretty bad. Certainly wouldn't do that whole FBI investigation any good. Cafas didn't even want to imagine the fallout for the X-men, fraternising with the enemy was just not a good look.
Why was this so hard? Her heart was hammering like she'd just climbed some stairs or like this was an actual threat to her health and safety. Did they really have to do this here? Now?
'There is never a good time for this conversation,' she reminded herself.
So she let the words build up inside her and then just sort of... let it all go. All at once one a torrential whisper.
"He's my brother. We're twins. When mom and dad split, they each took one and it turns out bio-dad is a jerk and my brother is a really dangerous person, but I mean, I guess that's kinda perfect that I pushed him and Isabel into a date, I mean I don't think either of them have killed anybody since and they were pretty damn naked last I saw them both."
She cringed. Okay. She hadn't meant to say EVERYTHING, but his eyes were so earnest and she trusted him to make it all better. Cafas could make it all better, right?
"So. Uh. Yeah. That's why I'm not gonna mess with Sam."