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.
There were a lot of questions as to where the X-Men were housed. People had seen these heroes in articles in the newspapers, in wanted posters from S.U.P.E.R. and government officials, there were even blogs dedicated to finding these people available all over ViewTube. Speculations ran high, hopping between guesses that they were aliens to multibillionaires, at one point it was even guessed if they were Atlanteans but that ended up getting confused with the highly popular Atlantis Club who stated outright that the X-Men were not a publicity stunt crafted by them. Whatever the case, what they didn’t know was that the X-Men were, in fact, very much citizens of the fair city. However, for all their heroics, they were clearly unrewarded as they made the strangest of possible places their base of operations.
In one of the many metropolitan hospitals littered throughout the city, the X-Men take office space and are generally left alone. Their cover story varies but for the most part it is finely crafted thanks to their leader in order to keep prying and wandering eyes away from them.
Located on the topmost floor, the base of operations has seen better days. It isn’t a dilapidated ruin, but the equipment is old and there is only so much cleaning that can be done in a single day to ensure the area remains livable. Throughout the various offices, there is one section of the wing, towards the farthest back, where there were sounds of activity – fighting sounds.
This was the training room. It was fairly simple with a large, cleaned out space for activities. Large wrestling mats cover the floor in certain areas and it is filled with secondhand training equipment such as a punching bag held together mostly with duct tape, a few weights, an exercise bike, and various other odds, ends, and equipment that the team were lucky enough to find on discount. At the current moment, there was only one occupant of the room and she was punishing the punching bag fairly hard.
Agnes Nicholas, otherwise known as Combatant and the teams combat trainer, should the need arise, was on her third hour of working out. The young fighter, because of her mutation, was in constant need of training. It kept her body strong, her mind sharp, and allowed her to access her mutation to its fullest potential. However, being on such a strict schedule also meant that she didn’t have a lot of time to be sociable. This tended to cast her in the role of the black sheep to contrast against the rest of the team pep and cheeriness.
Not that she cared two licks.
Dressed in form-fitting yoga pants and a sports bra (both black and lined with red) the young woman was intensely focused on her activities. Her wrapped fist pounded and struck the punching bag with unrelenting force each time. If there was a reason that this particular exercise equipment was broken down, it was probably because of her. Following each punch with a blinding combination, the young woman practically drilled a hole through the hanging bag of cloth and sand with her fists. However, something would pull her attention away.
”HAH!!” she shouted as she delivered the final punch. The bag jostled, quivering from the blow. Agnes stopped, breathing heavily and placing her hands upon the bag to keep it from swing back into her. Using the back of her hand to wipe sweat from her brow, the young fighter turned her crystalline blue eyes towards the door. She heard a footstep so she knew someone was in the hall. Eyebrow arched, she called out with her usual gruff and grumpy tone. ”Who’s there?” she growled. Then she grumbled to herself. ”Better not be that damn cat again…”
Whenever she entered the base, Cait felt like some sort of suave super spy, returning from a hard mission to her sanctuary. OK, they might have been renting the offices from the hospital below them, and it was much smaller and more run down than those she was used to seeing in old movies, but it was theirs. It had surveillance equipment, training rooms even a new mascot. The fact it was also filled with pretty girls helped cement that image in her head.
She headed up to their rented space with a single goal for the day. She would find Bijou and she would play with her. No amount of scanner shifts or training was going to stop her and god help Raine if she was hogging the kitty again. It was her turn and dammit, she was getting some precious kitten affection if it killed her. She'd even brought toys and treats as bribes for the new X cat. Now, now she just needed to find the little devil. Chances are she was sleeping somewhere sunny, unless Combatant was about. Then she'd be hiding, like most of them did when she was about.
Cait didn't have anything against her fellow team member, far from it, but Combatant made it hard to love her. She generally acted standoffish with her. It may have had something to do with what she now thought of as the hugging incident. How was she to know how much Combatant hated being touched, she'd just wanted to be her friend. But she would get that hug, one day even if it cost a broken rib or two. Or three, knowing her. All of that, however, could wait. She had a kitty to find.
Searching high and low for longer than she really should have been, she couldn't find Bijou at all. She was either hiding out in Becca's office, or in the training room. Both options were bad, but she had the feeling that while annoying Combatant wouldn't be the best idea, disturbing the boss lady would probably be worse for her health. Sighing and steeling herself for what was to come, she wandered over to the empty room they called a training room. Nearing it however, and hearing the animated sounds of a sand bag being pummeled, she started having second thoughts. At least if Grey melted her it would be quick, the beating she might get from their resident grump would last longer. Before she could think to sneak away though, a gruff voice addressed her.
Cautiously peeking her head into the room and finding she wasn't in immediate danger, Cait stepped into the room and address the voices owner. "Hi Combatant, don't mind me, I was just looking for something." Scanning the room in a desperate attempt to find what she knew wouldn't be in here, she knew her quest was going unfulfilled tonight and since she'd already bothered the grump, why not get some training done? "Do you mind if I train as well? I've got some knots to work out and I promise I'll not be in your way," she said, finishing with her warmest smile.
Who knows, she might even be able to coax the other woman into to sparring. She could always do with the practice, especially with the extra weirdness happening in New York right now.
If there was one thing that was known about Combatant to the entire team of X-Men, besides the fact that she generally was in a sour disposition, it was that the young mutant loathed to be touched. Not only was touching generally considered a form of affection that Agnes had gone without the majority of her life, but her mutation made touch vastly uncomfortable. The second she had skin-to-skin contact with another person, her mind instantly started to dig through their muscle memory for any history of combat experience. It took a full thirty seconds for Agnes to fully attain their skills, but it was an uncomfortable time that gave the young woman a most uncomfortable sensation.
Because of her aversion to touch, Agnes’ reputation as a grump and someone who generally does not like touch, that caused her to prefer to be alone. She trained alone, she ate alone, she sat and brooded in the darkness alone, all-in-all, despite the fact that she was on a team, the warrior still considered herself on her own. However, there were those individuals who weren’t scared off or frustrated to the point of acceptance at her attitude – one of those was the last she wanted to see today.
Her lean, muscular arms crossing over her chest, Agnes stopped when a perky smile and the flair of red hair appeared at the doorway to the training room. She arched her brow immediately recognizing the woman as her fellow teammate, Caitriona, or rather, “Cait”. From a X-Men point of view, the woman had her uses. Her powers were strong and were effective in a fight; plus she was loyal to a fault. However, there was the small issue of her personality – the issue being that is grated on Agnes’ nerves like a rusty razor.
Ugh. Of all the people who could be running into her today, Cait was the last she wanted to encounter – she even would have rather dealt with that obnoxious cat. Cait, it would seem, made it her personal mission to try and spread sunshine and glitter throughout the world. If she so much as saw a grumpy face, Cait was on them; Agnes included. There was on instance in recent memory where Cait completely broke Agnes’ rule about invading her personal space and attempted to hug her by surprise.
It did not go well.
These days Agnes tended to keep at least a ten foot radius of space between herself and the peppy redhead. However, now, here she was again. Given that most of the members were gone, she vaguely wondered if maybe this was going to be some ambush attempt to give her another hug. If so she was going unfortunately going to have to break bones to get her point across now. Thankfully it seemed that there were other matters on Cait’s mind…
>> "Hi Combatant, don't mind me, I was just looking for something."
She gave her a hard, scrutinizing stare. That was a likely story, one that only a serial huggist like Cait would use in order to lower the guard of her victims. However when no hug came and the woman seemed interested in looking about the room, Agnes allowed herself to relax (only a little) before she gave her a grunt of a greeting and turned back around, continuing her stretching. She clearly wasn’t what Cait was looking for and she could care less what she was really after.
Returning to the worn out punching bag, Agnes flexed her fingers and rolled her shoulders. All she had to do was be patient as Cait would end up going away on her ow--
>> "Do you mind if I train as well? I've got some knots to work out and I promise I'll not be in your way,"
Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. Hands on her hips, Agnes turned around to face her teammate. She knew that she needed to place nice with others and, for the most part, she did (according to her standards) but the frustration was clear on her face. She eyed the woman closely before she just nodded her head. Really she shouldn’t be keeping anyone from training as they all needed it.
”Fine.” She grunted as she turned back to the punching back. Slipping into her stance, she shook her shoulders loose before she lashed out with a pair of punches. However she stopped after the second one and looked at Cait as she entered; curiosity got the better of her. ”What were you looking for?”
Posted by Artair Hawke on Apr 21, 2017 9:25:42 GMT -6
Haven
Asset of Haven
Artair=C6DEFF
Bi as they come
468
211
May 27, 2023 12:28:57 GMT -6
Khzar
Cait half expected her to swear at her, or just simply ignore her and was pleasantly surprised by the resident grump turning to face her. Clearly she wasn't happy about the prospect, the look on her face speaking volumes about her thoughts on the young Scot. Since the incident she had kept space between them if they were ever in the same room, as if expecting another surprise hug. Not that Cait would try for a while. After Combatant's initial response to her friendliness, she'd had the specifics of the woman's aversion to hugs impressed upon her. It did not sound fun. How could someone function without hugs? She could barely go a day without one, she shuddered to think not being able to at all.
Nodding after being given the go ahead and crossing towards her stored training clothes, she was caught off guard by the question. She'd never known the woman to take an interest in her. "Erm, I was looking for Bijou, actually." She was not going to mention looking here was a last resort. "Wanted to give her some toys I found." That and she was dangerously low on her hug quota for today but saying that to the stone faced woman across from her seemed unwise.
Trying to smile at her disarmingly, Cait continued with "She's probably asleep somewhere. I thought I might as well train while I waited for her to emerge." Or hiding from a certain someone. Bijou was a lot smarter than most cats.
Retrieve her clothes and changing quickly, she was glad for a change to stretch her muscles. The runners shorts and t-shirt she usually used felt good to put on again, even if she'd never wear them in public. They were just a bit too revealing for her tastes, but for training in they were great. They just felt so right to move in.
Going through some fairly standard warm up and stretching exercises she was quickly ready to do the same with her power. With each of them being different, they'd been pushed to develop their own personal warm up style for their powers. Pulling out one knife at a time, she sent them dancing around her in a seemingly random pattern, focusing on their movement and speed until she had five going at once. A the shimmering white blades wove an intricate dance around her, picking up speed until it was like a storm of energy around her.
Snapping her eyes open, she sent them slamming into one of the targets on the wall, all but one hitting the points she'd marked for them. "Dammit, still can't get that last one to hit," she muttered to herself, having been stuck on this problems for weeks.
Agnes had never been one for conversation so the surprise that flashed across Cait’s face was rather warranted. The fighter didn’t spend time pal-ing around with the other members of the team, instead proving that she preferred her solitude above all else. Communication was kept to the utmost minimum, usually with grunts, nods, or single-word answers (and no touching allowed); so when Agnes actually asked something a question, and one that didn’t pertain to battle or mission reports, it was best to take the rarely experienced unicorn-of-an-opportunity while it was there.
She was curious. That was all. Cait, or Shivs as she was known to the rest of the team, was extremely peppy and always eager to help. However to randomly come into the training room while Agnes was in the midst of using it? That was rather brave of her. The warrior made it no small hint that she liked to be on her lonesome when she was training so suspicion and curiosity drove to inquire as to what the redhead was looking for.
>> "Erm, I was looking for Bijou, actually…Wanted to give her some toys I found."
…
”Ah…”. She finally said. It made sense. With Cait’s personality, she fell in love with all the cute and cuddly things that managed to find their way into the office. Agnes was not the biggest fan of the X-Men’s latest mascot. Of course that wasn’t necessarily true, it wasn’t that she disliked the cat, it was more that was she was just entirely indifferent to it. Some would say that was ironic because that is very cat-like behavior but they would never say that to her face. In the end, Agnes merely shrugged her shoulders. ”Haven’t seen it.”
The cat knew to stay away from her. Whenever Agnes and Bijou were in the same room, the cat tended to avoid her like the plague – and vice versa. The two of them were like two magnets with the same charge, just repelling one another at every turn. Days could go by where Agnes never spied the little feline, prompting hope that maybe it had run off. However, as it would seem, the wayward kitten always managed to find its way back. Delightful.
>> "She's probably asleep somewhere. I thought I might as well train while I waited for her to emerge."
Agnes nodded her head as she turned her attention back to her own practice. She was well into her third hour and was only now really started to exhibit any signs of weariness. Despite the sweat on her brow, the woman didn’t seem to be able to stop. It was part of her mutation where she just could fight on and on and the same went to training. She was compelled to keep trying until she satisfied her minimum quota; only then would she rest.
Allowing Cait to enter and start on her own training, Agnes ignored her for the most part. She focused on the wore out punching back, delivering devastating kicks, knees, and elbows to the hanging bag. It quivered and shook, almost threatening to pop another seam, but she didn’t relent. As she spun, she paid little attention to the other individual in the gym, instead focusing on her next combo – that is until she saw those glowing constructs of light.
After she had delivered another strong elbow, Agnes paused, taking a breath, and glanced over to her teammate. She knew of her abilities and found them to be quite intriguing. Between the two of them, the combat side of the team should have been spoken for; Shiv could create weapons from her mind and Agnes had mastered maintained a plethora of fighting technics. However, for as perfect as that combination seemed, there was the small flaw in that Cait certainly didn’t have the same combat philosophy that Agnes did. Where Agnes was of the ‘fight until you win’ type, Cait was more of the ‘solve everything with hugs’ type. That was mildly disappointing.
Still, it was rather intriguing to watch her powers in action. Standing off to the side, Agnes watched with interest as the constructed blades whirled dangerous around the redhead. Placing her hands on her hips, Agnes paused and just watched. They flew like sparrows through the sky, each one striking their target head on…except for one.
>> "Dammit, still can't get that last one to hit,"
Agnes arched her brow, watching her, scrutinizing her. It was dangerous to think of offering to help, especially since that will put her in hugging range, but she was the combat professional here; technically it was her job and if she didn’t do it, she knew that Impact would be all over her butt. So, with a hefty sigh, Agnes slowly approached, still keeping her hands on her hips to keep her standoffish demeanor intact.
Posted by Artair Hawke on Apr 25, 2017 14:55:20 GMT -6
Haven
Asset of Haven
Artair=C6DEFF
Bi as they come
468
211
May 27, 2023 12:28:57 GMT -6
Khzar
No matter how much she practiced, she could not get that last damn knife to hit the target. Its like someone had plonked a wall in her way and she was stuck at how to proceed. With each knife before hand she had at least made steady progress, slowly getting closer and closer to hitting the target with all of them. But this one just refused to budge, refused to even attempt to co-operate with her. It was enough to make a girl scream. Which she admittedly nearly did when Combatants gruff voice sounded from much closer behind her than she had expected.
At least Becca's training kicked in, as she quickly spun and dropped into a more defensive stance at the surprise from behind. Seeing her fellow X did not immediately put her at ease, thinking you were entirely safe in the other woman's presence had already proved to be a mistake on her part. Thankfully she was offering help, even if she looked annoyed about the very idea. She might be many things, but Combatant was the teams premier fighter, turning away that kind of offer would be supremely idiotic. While they may all need different approaches when it came to training their powers, clearly her attempts were not bearing fruit. Maybe a new perspective would help. All Cait had to do was fight her hugging urges for a while longer.
"I have no clue, but considering how long I've been stuck on this it couldn't hurt to try." Who knows, maybe getting a combat specialists view on the matter would help, and if not? She'd have gotten to spend more time with one of her team mates. One step closer in her grand plan to get that hug as well, if the details in her mental hug diary could be trusted. "It just a dumb warm up, in the end, but I figured it would help get my head into the right place for practice."
Up until now, she'd mostly focused on the physical side of training, making sure she could use the weapons she made effectively. That and being able to defend herself when she over ran her power. Learning how to use knives or a rapier just made sense to her and they were easy to find teachers for. Getting specialised training for a power very few people had and even fewer used openly? How the hell was she supposed to be able to manage that?
Sighing at the sombre thoughts, she pushed them away. Now wasn't the time for self pity, it was the time to put her head down and power through. Running into their grumpiest member might be the answer to her problem. If anyone could help her smash her head against a wall until it broke, it was her.
"When I've got five weapons out, I just cannot crack getting the last one to hit where I want it too. Every time time I try it's that far off," she said gesturing towards the target, the weapons now scattered when her concentration had slipped for too long. "It's like there's just a, block, in my mind stopping me moving forward."
Her arms crossed over her chest, Combatant advanced upon the redheaded woman as she watched her perform her abilities in an attempt at target practice. Though she despised how feely-huggy the young woman was, she was of course going to lend her services to helping her to master her abilities. Agnes was by no means a master at training mutations, but despite her angry bursts and grumpy exterior, she was probably the most Zen of the group. It anyone was going to give the young woman was tips of target practice and focusing, it was going to be Agnes.
Stepping closer, but not too close as she didn’t want to be in hugging range, she listened as the redhead grumbled about not being able to hit her last mark. With a soft and unheard sigh, Agnes inquired if Shivs needed any help – and received a most perplexing response in return.
She didn’t step back when Cait suddenly yelped, spun around to face her and slipped into something that Agnes assumed was supposed to be a fighting position. Except for the eyebrow that twitched upwards, she expression didn’t betray any of her thoughts (except for indifference) as she eyed the woman closely. After a second of silence, Cait seemed to grasp what it was that Agnes was asking.
>> ” "I have no clue, but considering how long I've been stuck on this it couldn't hurt to try. It just a dumb warm up, in the end, but I figured it would help get my head into the right place for practice."
”Warming up is never dumb,” she said quietly. ”It is always best to keep yourself as honed as possible.”
Agnes nodded. She had always been impressed by Shiv’s ability but seeing her have difficulty with part of her abilities immediately made the young man shift into instructor mode. She wanted to be able to assist her teammates when it was required, not only because it was her duty, but she wanted to make sure that whatever dangers that they faced, that they were prepared. Agnes was well-versed in the dangers of the world and that villains didn’t politely wait for you if you were out of breath before continuing the fight. No, her teammates had to be prepared to break their limits if they wanted to survive.
Stepping back, she tilted her head as she eyed the woman. She couldn’t help if she didn’t know what the problem was so she silently waited for Cait to continue. When she did, Agnes got a correct rundown of what was the matter – namely every time she attempts this particular drill, she ends up with the last target always being off the mark. Agnes chewed her lip in thought.
”Okay,” Moving around Cait, she stood directly next to her. She didn’t touch her, in any away, but instead just stood there. ”Do it again,” she said. ”I need to see it from start to finish.” Before she allowed the other to do so, Agnes eyed her out of the corner of her eye. ”And if you try to hug me, I will break your arm.”
Posted by Artair Hawke on Apr 27, 2017 15:18:59 GMT -6
Haven
Asset of Haven
Artair=C6DEFF
Bi as they come
468
211
May 27, 2023 12:28:57 GMT -6
Khzar
As much the other woman had a point about warming up, Cait had never been able to get that mindset about her power. Give her physical training and a well defined set of stretches and exercises and she was happy, but how on earth was she supposed to know when her mind was 'loose' enough for training. It was even harder considering she wasn't exactly sure on how her powers actually worked. Did she train them like any other physical attribute, constantly using them again and again until it was muscle memory. Or was it like other more mind based powers, where mental exercises and maybe meditation would help? So much in her life was so easily explained as a set of instructions to follow but this? With this she was lost.
It didn't help matters that after explaining everything, the target of her grandest hug plan to date stood so close next to her, demanding to see exactly what she was doing. That and the fact she made the unspoken threat very much spoken, leaving Cait with no wiggle room of doubt to work with if she lost to her urges. She also wondered if her companion was also some sort of mind reader and had some sort of inkling of her grand years long strategy to wear her down. It was possible. Although chances are she wouldn't be standing next to her if she did.
"Understood, no hugs today." She very carefully worded it to not close the door on future attempts. That was as far as she was willing to promise, for now. "You might want to keep still as well. I'll need to expand the range slightly and I'm guessing you wouldn't be best pleased if I managed to stab you by accident." Keeping her voice light and joking, she knew that wouldn't be an issue. From the outside it looked like a random pattern, but it was a fairly well controlled sequence. Turning slightly she asked "You ready?"
Once again she started the warm up, closing her eyes and pulling the pattern into her mind. Carefully centering it between the two of them and extending its range slightly, making sure it didn't overlap either of them. Now it was time for a show, she thought idly, pulling the first knife into reality and setting it on its path. As she pulled out each knife and gave it it's place in the pattern she reveled in this part. This was the part she could do, the part that made sense. With every added knife it was like she was creating a song, playing music with her mind. Drawing the fifth and final weapon out and adding its movement to the melody, it was time to build for the finale. Like a song reaching its climax the knives flew and dived, all their movement perfectly visible to her, even with her mind closed. It was like each one was just another part of her body.
At some seemingly random point she snapped her eyes open and fixed points on the target, the knives flashing instantly at the mental command. Each blade struck true, each blade hitting it's mark. Except one. The exact same last knife, the exact same distance off its target.
The vicious Gaelic swearing exited her mouth before she could stop herself. Why the hell was it so hard to hit a single point. Trailing off, she had completely forgotten someone was standing next to her and worse, that someone was probably not pleased with her random outburst. Blushing and stepping back from Combatant she awkwardly looked between her and the target. She mumbled a quiet "Sorry," to the floor and just tried to calm herself down, shocked at such a violent response to herself.
Though no one officially asked Agnes to take on this task for herself, she believed herself to be a combat instructor for the team. Whenever she came across one of her team mates having trouble with training, she tended to offer her services – probably one of the only times she actually allowed herself to talk to the others. Deep down she wanted to ensure that her people came back from the dangerous missions that they went on and this included being able to manage their abilities. Agnes may not be an expert in the field but she could do her best to ensure that her team mates found focus when using their gifts; sometimes that was all it took.
Cait’s problem could have been because of a number of factors but they were factors that she couldn’t rule out until she had seen the young woman in action. She had to watch her abilities to see what was happening, to understanding how her gifts were betraying her – or vice versa. So this was the plan, she would stand by and she would watch and see what would happen. However, she had a strict rule that the known hugger must abide by….
>> "Understood, no hugs today."
Agnes narrowed her eyes. She should have clarified that “no hugs” meant ever but what was the point? That would only lead to an argument and would probably scare the redhead off and prevent her from teaching this lesson. No, she would keep her mouth shut but she would make sure to be on her guard just in case Cait started to exhibit signs of an impending hug.
>> "You might want to keep still as well. I'll need to expand the range slightly and I'm guessing you wouldn't be best pleased if I managed to stab you by accident...You ready?"
She had a basic understanding of Cait’s powers. If she was going to stand this close to her, it was best that she not make any sudden movements lest she get her nose sliced off. However this in itself was a dangerous as it made for a perfect hugging environment. So long as she couldn’t move under the threat of impending death, that left the young warrior at the mercy of the redhead. She only hoped that she wouldn’t abuse her abilities in such a way. Then again…
She nodded her head. She was ready for this to begin.
The warrior scrutinized everything. She glanced towards Cait, watching as she prepared herself, she eyed her stance, her expressions, she watched the constructed daggers fly about their heads. Standing in the midst of all this, it really made it quite a sight to behold. If Agnes had been the type, she probably would have just gaped her mouth in awe and muttered a silent “Wow” under her breath; but that wasn’t who she was. Instead, Agnes merely stood there, continuing to observe, until the knives all flew at their target – once again, one and veered far from the rest and embedded itself in the wall.
”…huh…” was all she said.
She was about to point out a tip when suddenly there was a barrage of cursing coming from the young woman in a language that she wasn’t all that familiar with. Agnes arched her brow, watching as Cait grumbled and grunted up a storm before she finally calmed down enough to catch Agnes staring and apologize. Ironically it would be that which would earn a smirk from Agnes. It was a side of the redhead she hadn’t seen before and she found it amusing. She would say nothing of it, though – at least not right now.
She cleared her throat as she turned back to face the target. She had to get to the bottom of this. ”What is going through your head when you do this? It could be that you are thinking too hard about hitting that last target that it is distracting you. Trying keeping your head blank of thoughts. Don’t think about making that last hit…” With that she walked over to her locker and rifled around for a second before she produced several small kunai, or throwing knives. Returning to her place by Cait’s side. ”…think about nothing and let your body take over.”
Without another word she turned. Her hands were fast, fling kunai faster than could be seen and embedded them into a target painted on the wall. Each one hit the exact spot she was aiming for…dead center. That accomplished, she turned back to Cait and gave her a small nod.
Posted by Artair Hawke on Apr 30, 2017 13:07:51 GMT -6
Haven
Asset of Haven
Artair=C6DEFF
Bi as they come
468
211
May 27, 2023 12:28:57 GMT -6
Khzar
She'd never been one to swear, at least not excessively. Cait had grown up with a strange mix of the American attitude towards swearing with a strict Scottish matron for a mother. It wasn't like she didn't know how too, she was well versed in most curses in both English and Gaelic. Her dad could swear like a sailor and frequently did after a long day dealing with the bureaucratic nightmare that goes into being a senior doctor in a large hospital. For what ever reason though it just hadn't been something she did. Even as a rebellious teenager her language was fairly tame, so her sudden outburst really shocked her. Had this really been annoying her this much?
When she finally managed to drag her eyes up from the floor and still bright red with embarrassment she saw the other woman staring at her she was a bit confused. Was Combatant smiling? No that couldn't be possible, Cait hadn't know the woman even made the muscles in her face for a smile, let alone know how to use them. It was almost scary.
Cait did have to ponder her comment though. What was she thinking about whenever she did this? It was probably true she didn't exactly have a clear mind most of the time and she had admittedly been a bit too focused on hugs while doing it today but surely there was more too it than that. Could it really be that simple? Even if it was, what kind of person could just empty their mind, silence all those strange buzzing little thoughts. They were certainly hard to stop when the teams combat expert pulled out a set of throwing knives. That could only be bad for her. With Combatant advancing on her all Cait could think about was maybe she could read her thoughts after all and was simply ending her great hug plan before it started.
She was safe though, at least for now, as her companion demonstrated a terrifying skill with the weapons and planted each one in the centre of the target. "Remind me not to cross you Combatant. Ever." It was amazing how scary some of her teammates were. "But I see what you mean, certainly can't help to try."
Closing her eyes and trying to empty her mind, she just couldn't stop the errant thoughts. Each happy sunbeam and glittery idea just kept circling her head, refusing to let her have peace. This wasn't right, wasn't how she worked. She couldn't just turn them off. Unless, she was never more focused than when she was playing music. Maybe she didn't need to make them quiet, she just needed to drown them out with sound. Closing her eyes and beginning her warm up, she imagined she was standing in front of a crowd, playing her favourite song.
It felt weird, each knife came in at the right time but the pattern was, different, more fluid. The weapons were reacting the the song, like they were playing the harmony in the air. Before she likened it to a song, now it was one. So she stood, and played her aerial song, the blades spinning faster and faster until she hit the finale, playing her notes perfectly. Cait was out of breath, the effort in what she'd done suddenly crashing down, like she'd just finished a musical set at work. Cautiously she opened her eyes.
Sitting in the target were four blades, each arranged around the kunai Combatant had thrown. Once again, off target was the forth but this time, it looked closer. Not by much but it was definitely closer than before. Running up to check, she got her confirmation. It worked! Agnes' suggestion had cracked it. Months on this problem and it had been so simple she'd over looked it. "Oh my god, Agnes it worked! I can't believe how easy it was and it worked!." In her excitement she didn't even realise her mistake in using her real name. Nor did she notice the new, deep scores in the floor around where she had been standing.
"If I didn't know any better I would hug you so much right now." Which was partially true. She did know better and she was still tempted to try it, the day seeming so much brighter again.
>> "Remind me not to cross you Combatant. Ever. But I see what you mean, certainly can't help to try."
Her nostrils expanded as she let out a small puff of air (Agnes’ form of a snort of amusement). After her display, Agnes found herself back at the woman’s side. She had a feeling that this was her problem, she was over thinking it. If she had kept her mind quiet, eventually she would have made that last knife hit the target along with the others. But because she thinking too hard about the importance of making sure that last one hit, she was putting too much pressure and subconsciously she was knocking herself off balance. It was the only thing that made sense to young warrior.
Her uncle taught her to throw knives a long while ago. While it was a skill that she could have picked up just by touching a warrior with these talents, this was something that her uncle wanted her to learn so that no matter what, she had the talent. He always believed that mutant abilities were not something to heavily rely upon, that they were just more tools and tools could eventually betray you. Agnes, to some degree, still believed in that to this day so she trained herself in as many talents as she could so that she was never caught unaware.
Agnes was a bit of a jack-of-all-trades and in order to maintain that, she needed to keep her mind clear and her ability to focus intact. Doing so kept her mind at peace so she could perform the various things she could do without having to rely on too much thought in-between. Sometimes the seconds it took to think about your next move was all an opponent needed to get in and shove a knife in your heart.
With her advice given, Agnes held her breath, not wanting to distract Cait as she tried to slip into a more peaceful mindset. Folding her arms across her chest, she waited and watched her teammate as she closed her eyes and began to fall into a deep silence. Agnes didn’t even allow her joints to crack as she stood at the ready, watching and waiting to see what was going to unfold from this exercise. For a few moments it seemed as if nothing would occur, but as Cait found that mental sweet spot, she watched the dazzling light show as it unfolded.
Knives formed, just the same as before, only this time they seemed to be moving about the redhead in a tune that Agnes couldn’t hear. That fact didn’t bother her as it seemed to be working. The blades were moving differently now, somewhat more in-sync. And when finally the time came to hurl the blades at their target, Agnes let only the smallest of smirks pull at her lips. She looked down the ground, waiting for Cait to open her eyes; when she did, the smile vanished.
Cait seemed more than impressed. Though the last blade didn’t hit the target like the others, it was actually closer than the last several had apparently been. It wasn’t a fully on solution, but it was the path that would eventually lead to it. So long as Cait kept working in that manner, Agnes knew she would be fine. She nodded her head to the young woman, ready to step out of the hug zone, when the redhead addressed her.
>> "Oh my god, Agnes it worked! I can't believe how easy it was and it worked! If I didn't know any better I would hug you so much right now."
Her eyebrow quirked. She eyed Cait closely before she turned and headed back towards her punching bag. ”Then it’s a good thing you know better.” Quietly she started to re-wrap her hands for another punching session. However she still addressed the redhead as she did so. ”Just keep at it.” she said. ”Whatever you were thinking about, or not thinking about, is working. Hold onto that feeling, to a calm mind, and you’ll get that last blade in line. As an old sensei of mine used to say…” she turned, slipped into a fighting position and buried a fist into the weakened punching bag. ”An archer cannot hit the bullseye if he doesn't know where the target is.’” She paused. ”Of course he was picking up women at the time…” she paused again. ”…but it still applies.”
Cait could almost feel her good mood radiating off her. She just felt so good right now, no amount of Agnes' grumpiness would dampen her spirits. She might pretend to dislike the young Scot, but deep down she must have a soft spot. Somewhere. It was just her job to find it and hug it like there was no tomorrow. That and to not get killed while she tried. If her quarry got any clue at the depths of her stalker tendencies, chances are she would be even more cautious around her.
The more experience fighter did have a point though, with only a few seconds of trying to calm her thoughts, her accuaracy had risen. If she managed to keep practicing that, chances are she would crack it in a couple of days, maybe a week at the most. All she needed to do was calm the thoughts her way. Emptying her mind wasn't an option, it just wasn't how she was made. But directing the buzzing, making it into music, giving it form and structure had prove to work. Now she just needed to 'compose' a few more weapon songs and she wouldn't only be able to hit a target everytime, but she might be able to create on the fly patterns, requiring very little concentration to keep them going. That idea was so exciting to her.
"Sounds like my kind of teacher. I'll need to test that the next time I go out." It would never hurt to have more ways to chat a pretty lass out of her dress. God knows Cait wasn't as smooth with her own sex as she was with guys. Guys were easy to flirt with. "The girls receptive to his methods at all? Totally asking for a friend." She added with a cheeky grin.
"Thanks though, Combatant. Jokes aside I really appreciate the help." Never hurt to tell someone how much their help meant to you, she thought. Some people needed to hear it more than others, especially the ones that went out of their way to stay isolated. As scary as the woman was, she did see the fighter as a true teammate. She would easily put herself in harm for Combatant and was pretty sure she'd do the same. Yeah, she'd have loved it if her companion could open up more with her and the others but her loyalty and steadfastness was above reproach.
Looking down and around where she'd been standing, she only just noticed the deep new scars on the floor. That, was not good. Becca was going to kill her, this time she was sure of it. She'd had constant lectures on being careful with her power and now she had damaged the floors of their rented offices. Oh this was going to be so bad for her, the boss might even revoke kitty access like she'd threatened to before. "Becca is going to have my hide this time."
Agnes rolled her shoulders as she prepared for another volley of strikes against the gradually weakening punching bag. As she thought back on her old sensei, a man younger than she would have guessed but with a lifelong knowledge of his skills, she found herself opening sharing the story with Cait. Truth was that she rarely opened up like this and, much rather, preferred silence to casual conversation. But her old teacher’s words were relevant to this situation as it was important to remember to keep the mind from getting cluttered, especially when attempting to hit a target.
>> "Sounds like my kind of teacher. I'll need to test that the next time I go out."
With the added knowledge that he had used said teachings to pick up women, Cait’s interest seemed piqued. She stated that it was something that she would have to try out on her own and the warrior could only snort a bit at the comment. Her old master was skilled and slick with words, Cait didn’t really seem to embody that persona. Then again, it wasn’t as if Agnes knew the effectiveness of Cait and her pick-up skills; there were some things that she simply didn’t have to know.
>> "The girls receptive to his methods at all? Totally asking for a friend."
That earned another snort from the ninja. ”Yes. If by ‘receptive’ you mean that received a black eye in the process.”
Her old master was a skilled with words but when he had one too many drinks in him, his teaches became incoherent messes that usually ended with him making a fool of himself. For as great a teacher as he was, the warrior found herself in awe that the man functioned in every day society in the way that he did. Still, if others wanted to emulate his skills, then who was she to stop them? If Cait could really pull it off and bed some attractive young woman, then maybe that would derail the hug-campaign that she had out against Combatant. She sighed, wistfully, she could dream, couldn’t she?
When a thanks followed her statement, Agnes paused with her fist buried in the punching back. She breathed a deep sigh, took a step back, and turned to glance at Cait. The redhead was a handful, always plotting and scheming to get a hug from her, and her peppiness overall, was absolutely ****ing annoying; but deep down she had the brunette’s respect. Agnes respected all of her teammates (sans certain off-color-eyed redheads) and she was always willing to offer them words of advice when it came to their training. She had seen too much bloodshed in her life and she wasn’t going to let it happen again.
>> "Becca is going to have my hide this time."
Her ears perked, she turned and eyed Cait again. The woman was looking down and, finally noticing the deep gashes on the floor, Agnes’ eyebrows arched. It only took a few seconds for her to make the connection that the gashes had been made thanks to Cait’s powers. Those constructs she made were deadly and dangerous and more often than not, anything that got in their way ended up being broken, split, or cut in some manner. Agnes was actually quite lucky she hadn’t been cut when standing next to the redhead, but the floor didn’t have the same fortune.
”Heh.” That was all that came out from between her lips, at first, as she abandoned her punching bag against and stepped closer to the inspect the gashes on the ground. Honestly it didn’t look that serious and, with as dilapidated as their environment was, she doubted that their fearless leader would notice. Agnes straightened up as she eyed Cait. ”Don’t worry about it. She probably won’t even notice. And if she does,” she shrugged. ”I’ll tell her I did it.”
Agnes had no problem taking the heat for someone else’s mistakes, especially if it would irritate the redhead and force her to come and try and chew her out for it. Though she respected Rebecca enough to follow her lead when necessary, more often than not the two of them butted heads; it exhausted Rebecca but Agnes always felt a little invigorated afterwards.
She gave a wink to Cait. ”Don’t fret. It’ll be fine.”
Posted by Artair Hawke on May 5, 2017 13:58:40 GMT -6
Haven
Asset of Haven
Artair=C6DEFF
Bi as they come
468
211
May 27, 2023 12:28:57 GMT -6
Khzar
He got a black eye just for some flirting? Guys had it so much harder, if they ran the risk of bodily harm every time they went out and tried it on. The worst experiences she'd ever had was spending a good half hour chatting up quite frankly the most beautiful guy she had ever seen, only for the guys boyfriend to arrive and them to start making out in front of her. That had been awkward. Cute, but still awkward. It was becoming a very annoying trend recently and was part of the reason she was interested to learn any other techniques she could when interacting with her own gender.
The other reason was more innocent. Combatant had opened up a little with her, told her some little details about her past. It might not have been much, but any little helped in forming a connection between them. Cait was under no illusions that she and Agnes would ever be close friends, but that didn't stop her at least trying to be more than just a team mate. Everyone in the X Men were important to the young Scot, yet her main way of showing that affection was a no go between them. So, here she was trying a different tack. Not that she was likely to give up finally getting one out of the grumpy ninja. She had her principles after all.
Back the main problem though. How the hell was she going to get away with causing this kind of damage. This was the quite obvious reason Becca was constantly reminding her to be careful with her power, making her promise to think of the consequences of throwing around razor sharp knives with her mind. Cait didn't like to hurt people and this aspect of her power genuinely scared her sometimes, its like it was designed to kill people. It wasn't helped her natural affinity with it were weapons well made for killing people. Too many people underestimated a rapiers' speed and deadly prowess and knives had stood the test of time when it came to combat.
Was Agnes trying to get hugged. Because she was so close to getting a hug right now. On top of all of her help today, all the progress she had allowed to happen and now? Now she was willing to get into another shouting match with the boss to protect her. "You do realise that the more you be nice to me, the more I want to hug you? Because I really want to hug you right now." The urge was very strong, nearly overwhelming, but she would hold it in, somehow. After this she was going to need a loooong session with Bijou to vent all her built up snuggle energy.
Holding up her hands to try to reassure the woman glaring at her she added "Don't worry though, I know how much it sucks for you when people do. I won't try to hug you without permission, as much as it will kill me inside." OK maybe she hadn't needed to add the last little bit, but maybe if the woman would relent at some point if she knew how much hugs meant to her.
"I appreciate the offer, and as much fun as your last shouting match with the boss was, I should probably face the music myself. It'd be the responsible thing to do after all." No point missing out on the rest of her training though, even if she was going to get the mother of all lectures afterwords. "God I'm starting to sound like an adult. Something's very wrong with that."
Power practice was probably off the cards for now, so time for some physical exercise. Grabbing a pair of practice knives, she started to set up one of the very battered dummies they had left. This particular one she had affectionately called David, after an ex. She had gotten a large amount of anger out on the poor piece of equipment and the nickname had kind of just stuck in her head. Dropping into a ready stance, she set too going through the various forms Becca, and the currently present grump, had drilled into her.
So maybe Agnes wasn’t as irritated with Cait as she initially was. She really didn’t have to offer to help the young woman after she had left marks all over the floor. It was true that Rebecca already dealt with a lot concern the one or two hospital staff members who knew what this space was for. Their jobs were on the line if it ever got out that this was where the X-Men were based. Making too much noise and leaving the place in shambles was a damn good way to get them caught. Thankfully they had been lucky so far and few truly realized what was going on up here. But she could see Rebecca chastising the redhead to keep her powers under control, lest their base be identified.
Still, despite that, Agnes felt a small protective swell in her chest over the sweet and innocent redhead. She didn’t know why. Things that were sweet and innocent tended to be rather useless to her but Cait was a teammate. That was the only thing that she could think of that could explain why she was here offering to take the blame for this. In the end she justified it as just wanting to pick a fight with the boss. Truth was that was a favorite pastime of hers. Often she liked to see just how red she could make the woman’s face. Once she got it so red that her freckles had completely vanished, forming into one mega-freckled that cover the entirety of her face.
She laughed for days after that.
>> ” You do realise that the more you be nice to me, the more I want to hug you? Because I really want to hug you right now."
Her eyebrow arched.
>> "Don't worry though, I know how much it sucks for you when people do. I won't try to hug you without permission, as much as it will kill me inside."
Again, she was thought that Cait was logical enough to realize when something was a very, very bad idea. However it didn’t escape her notice that Cait was still leaving “hugging” on the table when she stated that she wouldn’t do it without permission. Honestly Agnes couldn’t figure any scenario where she would allow anyone to hug her but if that was what Cait needed to tell herself to keep from crossing the line, then so be it. She let it go.
>> "I appreciate the offer, and as much fun as your last shouting match with the boss was, I should probably face the music myself. It'd be the responsible thing to do after all…God I'm starting to sound like an adult. Something's very wrong with that."
She nodded her head. ”Very well,” she said. It was good that she was starting to grow up, to take responsibility for her own actions. That would make her own job far easier.
Focusing on the task at hand, she titled her neck to hear the bones pop as she ready to lay into her punching bag yet again. But, a glance back to her teammate caught her watching as she prepared for some exercise that was far more physical. Knives in hand, she arched her brow and watched as she prepared to face off against one of the many dummies that they had available. Stepping away from her punching back, she turned and crossed her arms over her chest as she eyed the redhead. She was getting better but Agnes could already see the flaws.
She still had a job to do. So, picking up a bamboo sword she used for practice, Agnes leaned it against her shoulder as she moved back to Cait (really she was just putting herself into hugging range far too often today). She stood close, watching her, before she reached down and poked her foot with the stick, before she tapped her arm.
”Turn your foot. Tighten arm just a little more.” she said in a very instructional manner. ”If you’re going to do this, do it right.”