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.
What did she do? Oh, you know everything. He waited for her rescind or amend her statement but she did not, she only elaborated.
"Excuse me while I pick up my jaw from the floor. We might sound similar, but what you've got.. that..." He was both terrified and trying not to salivate. All of them? Nolan shook his head, amazed and delighted.
Oh. But she'd asked his name. "I go by Engram when I'm kicking booty. Gage when I'm getting my *ss handed back to me. Most people call me Gage" Which was true. His aim as one of the training officers of SUPER was to train others well enough that they could knock him flat out. They called him Agent Gage. Those that liked him less called him Double A since he was designated Alpha 2 and he just never quit.
"Seriously. Like. Poof? One touch and you get to take on my dumb antics?” SUPER had probably already tried to get this one, but he definitely saw the appeal. ”Someone on the outside might think we’re similar, but I can’t do everything.” There was quite a bit more amazed head shaking to be had.
Nobody liked psychics. He wasn't about to wander into the specifics of his power if he could help it. And he especially wanted to be liked by this girl. She was a lesson in contradictions, but in the best way. "Do I have to call you ninja-ette for the rest of my life or do you have a name?"
Her powers were considered impressive by many. Hell, it was the reason that her uncle and she had been on the run all these years. SUPER had been after her the entire time, desperate to make her part of the ranks. Who wouldn’t want a soldier who could adapt to most any circumstance and fight off any and all foes? It was the epitome of combat that any warring nation could of wanted. Really it wasn’t just for her alone. But if they could take her, dissect her, figure a way to replicate her powers in others, why, it would be an army that would cause nations to tremble. This wasn’t Agnes’ being arrogant about her abilities, more just her view given her experiences.
SUPER wanted her. They killed to get close to her. Clearly it was for more than just a simple job offer. They wanted something from her that she couldn’t even imagine, hence her paranoia in dealing with strangers. It may have sound paranoid to believe that everyone was after you, but it wasn’t so much paranoia if it was true.
Sitting with her back against stone, she tilted her head as she peered closely at the man. The look on his face was rather amusing to behold. The slacken jaw, the bugged out eyes, part of her wondered if maybe he had even heard her earlier question. However he seemed to shake loose from his torpor as he expressed just how impressed with her that he was.
>> "Excuse me while I pick up my jaw from the floor. We might sound similar, but what you've got.. that..."
She arched her brow. The man was clearly having a bit of trouble concentration. However, as the seconds ticked by, he eventually realized that she had asked him a question and he realigned himself long enough to answer that.
>> "I go by Engram when I'm kicking booty. Gage when I'm getting my *ss handed back to me. Most people call me Gage"
She scoffed. ”Gage? You sound like an action hero from a lame 80’s movie.” she said with a smirk. But, knowing how rude that may have come off (let’s face it, it was), she apologized by dipping her head. ”Sorry. My mouth can be quick on the draw.” She sighed as she tucked hair behind her ear. ”It’s nice to meet you…Gage.”
She took a note of his other moniker. What, was this guy trying to be some kind of vigilante or something? If so, he definitely needed more practice than jumping rooftops and bumping into gangs of mutants.
>> "Seriously. Like. Poof? One touch and you get to take on my dumb antics? Someone on the outside might think we’re similar, but I can’t do everything.”
She shrugged her shoulders ”Just like that,” she said with an added snap of her fingers. ”Sad thing is that it is on, all the time,” she explained and then gestured to her covered body. ”Hence the clothing. Makes skin-to-skin contact very, very uncomfortable for me.”
Stop, Agnes, stop. She grumbled inwardly to herself. Why was she just letting all these little details drop about herself? It wasn’t like her to go into detail about any aspect of herself with someone she didn’t trust. Then again, Gage wasn’t exactly a stranger, now was he? Yeah she barely met him tonight, but talking with him almost made him feel like a friend that she used to know; a friend she wanted to connect with. Wait…did she really even have friends?
She let the silence settle in again, almost welcoming it, and the sensation of the night air cooling her warm cheeks. A soft breath and Agnes did what she could to regain her composure. This was really turning out to be a strange night.
>>"Do I have to call you ninja-ette for the rest of my life or do you have a name?"
She supposed one good turn deserved another. ”Combatant.” Then she smiled in a manner that could be considered cheeky, maybe even a little flirtatious. And her words definitely carried a tone with which the young woman wasn’t all that familiar with. ”As for my ‘non kicking booty’ name…you’ll get my name when you’ve earned it.”
If there was an insult to be made about Nolan or his name, he'd heard them all by now. Being in the training segment of SUPER meant that he got all the young guns that thought they knew better and then wounded their egos. That meant he really had heard it all.
"Don't you apologize to me for that smart mouth. An 80's action hero isn't the worst thing I've ever been called." He winked just to see if he could make her turn an even prettier color and settled back on his hands, a total non-threat. There was no way he could move fast enough to reach her without broadcasting it first from this positioning.
> ”Sad thing is that it is on, all the time,”
Nolan saw his chances for romance and mutational benefit fast dwindling. Shame. But he made no move to cut his losses and go. Ninjaette had more to say and it struck a chord in him.
"Now, that's one I can understand all too well." Nolan somewhat sobered. The joking and flirting was nice and all, but this was something that bothered him every damn day. Advice like "try harder" or "just don't" didn't cut it.
"I can direct what I see to some degree, but that just means I get to choose to see the same thing over and over again or review a larger sequence. You ever try to pay attention to the here and now with a fight happening in your mind's eye forever playing over and over again? I don't get poof, I get a manual review. It's better to just... not."
So here he was. Just notting. He might pretend to be suave, but his relationships were pretty much in the zilch range. How was he supposed to worship a body like ninja-ette's without ever actually touching her? He'd just have to settle for flattery and competition.
Combatant. Ah. Totally X-man confirmed, not that he'd doubted it when she'd showed up to help in a fight that wasn't hers. Nolan reviewed what little they had in the dossier on Combatant, but he hadn't really been reading it that close last time. He certainly would be re-reading it at his next earliest convenience.
> ”As for my ‘non kicking booty’ name…you’ll get my name when you’ve earned it.”
He looked up at her. They may have only met tonight, but he knew that look. Hell, he practically patented it.
Gage. To her is sounded like either some cheesy 80s movie action hero or, worse yet, a wannabe porn star. The catchphrase “Are you ready to get Gaged?!” momentarily flashed through her mind and she pushed that thought away. She didn’t need to be thinking about the handsome man before her in such a way, especially when there was nothing that she could do about. Others would tell her “where there’s a will, there’s a way” and most of the time that ended up being a punch to Red’s gut with only enough held back to not actually rupture an organ.
Would be rude to kill the boss, after all.
Voicing her sarcastic commentary towards the man’s name, Agnes tilted her head back, watching him, gauging his reaction. She didn’t want him to get overly offended but she would have understood if that was the direction that it went. Surprisingly that was not how the man reacted at all…
>>"Don't you apologize to me for that smart mouth. An 80's action hero isn't the worst thing I've ever been called."
She started to scoff at his comment but then the wink caught her off guard. Already she could feel her cheeks coloring again and she wanted to punch something because of it. Flattery was not something that she was used to and while, normally, she would have told the man to “f**k off”, she really didn’t want to hurt his feelings that much. She didn’t know why, as he was a stranger and Agnes didn’t really mince words with anyone, but it just felt wrong to be that brash with him.
So she blushed, she turned away momentarily, and she composed herself again. She needed to get a hand on this situation so when he inquired more on her abilities, Agnes truthfully answered. It wasn’t the best of situations. She really has never known the simple gestures associated with touching and definitely not the more intimate ones. With her powers always on, she never had the chance to engage in such things. Holding someone for too long would replace combat abilities she’d gain and wouldn’t stop until she let go. But who cares, right? When there is someone worth it, wouldn’t she be willing to sacrifice this part of herself that has taken so much from her already?
Wait…what?
>> "Now, that's one I can understand all too well."
She blinked back into the conversation and found Gage looking a bit broodingly. She chewed on her bottom lip. Apparently his abilities had a similar effect. Maybe people like them really weren’t meant to enjoy the simplest and most basic pleasures. Maybe that was just something that they needed to accept and move on with their lives…
>> "I can direct what I see to some degree, but that just means I get to choose to see the same thing over and over again or review a larger sequence. You ever try to pay attention to the here and now with a fight happening in your mind's eye forever playing over and over again? I don't get poof, I get a manual review. It's better to just... not."
From his own account, it sounded like maybe he had the rougher time. While Agnes could instantly learn these techniques without really much effort, Gage, it seemed, had to go a longer route. His was more watching instructional ViewTube videos on a loop inside of his head. No wonder he was so eccentric – it was one step away from being bonkers, no? Either way, she was sympathetic to his plight and frowned a little. If they had some drinks, she would have saluted him with it.
”Condolences…” she muttered. That was probably the closest that she would get to being earnest with him.
After a few moments, just taking in the night air on her skin, she was inevitably asked her name. She had to smirk at him with that one, coyly teasing that if he wanted to know it, he’d after to earn it. This seemed to spur the man on as he pressed on for more details.
>> "What'd you have in mind, Combatant?"
She tilted her head, unamused, at his obvious attempt at throwing back some shade for her name choice. ”Well, we both have some skill, right? Little wager. Some friendly sparring?” she gestured up to the flattened roof top just a few steps away. ” I’ve never fought someone with your kind of skill. Could almost be challenge. If you can somehow knock me down, I’ll tell you my name.” She grinned at her tease. She could never resist a challenge. ”Deal?”
"Deal?" He rolled that around in his head for a minute. It didn't seem... balanced, somehow. Knowing full well that he was about to put his foot into his mouth, Nolan did it anyway. And he did it with a smile. "And what do you get out of this little arrangement? What happens if you knock me down?" He was pretty sure that was the more likely option. The agent pushed himself to his feet and affected an air of pondering.
"I'm no slouch, you know? I'll bet you didn't ask 'cause you want something embarrassing." He teased and stretched before he sized up the flatter roof across the way and his best path. That in and of itself looked a wee bit challenging considering their height and the consequences if one of them misstepped.
Nolan gasped quite suddenly as the realization struck him. "You think I'm goooorgeous." He taunted in true Miss congeniality fashion. "You want to huuuug me. You want my fight style. You want to smoooch me."
Rather than face the wrath for that one, Nolan gave a half salute and stepped backwards off the roof. He took two quick steps back along the long spindle of a decorative brass piece as it dangled out over nothing at all and then let himself fall in order to catch the long thin line with his hands.
There were safer ways, but none of them were nearly as exhilarating.
He edged out as far at the spindle would allow before it started bending and then he swung his legs out and back, out and back until he had the momentum to swing over a several story drop in order to land on the flat roof.
Nolan whooped when he made it. He'd almost over-shot, actually landing with as much momentum as he had, but he was able to stop before he met an untimely end.
He sank into cat's crouch and pivoted on his back foot, arms out in a kung-fu-esque sort of taunt. The trick, he'd learned, was to lower one's center of gravity. Especially against women fighters who had an advantage in their balance already.
There. It seemed like a fair deal to her. If he wanted to know her name, then he was going to have to earn it. Deep down she really didn’t think that he was going to actually do it, so she knew that her identity would be safe. But, she didn’t think at all about the flip side of that; it was supposed to be a trade off, so what did she want? She couldn’t think of anything that the man could give her (shunning away gutter thoughts!) so there was no point in considering it. And it wasn’t as if Gage was even thinking about i--
>> "Deal? And what do you get out of this little arrangement? What happens if you knock me down?"
She paused. She sighed. And she grumbled. Great, of course he would pick up on that. Again, she really couldn’t even consider what to ask in return. He had given a name, his abilities, there didn’t seem to be anything else to ask him. Still, as the young woman placed her hands at her hips, she considered the thoughts closely as she chewed on the inside of her cheek.
”Well, I guess…” she started to say. However, she was stopped when her new friend started to tease her.
>>"I'm no slouch, you know? I'll bet you didn't ask 'cause you want something embarrassing."
She dipped her head down at the accusation. ”Now, hold on a second…” she began to say. ”I wasn’t going to ask for anything embarassi—“
Unfortunately Gage was on a roll. With a wicked look in his eye, Agnes took a cautious step backwards and tilted her head in his direction as he started to…dance? An almost childish look on his lips, the man immediately pulled at Agnes’ concern but soon the rosy color burned even brighter on her cheeks. God. Damn. Him.
>>"You think I'm goooorgeous…You want to huuuug me. You want my fight style. You want to smoooch me."
Her mouth opened wide in surprise at his obnoxious behavior. With a grumble on her lips, and not giving him a chance, Agnes reached out to smack him upside the back of his head but she missed as the man quickly bolted away from her. She watched as he took a few steps backward before flinging himself downward. Agnes ran over to the side but stopped when she watched as he started to make his way towards their chosen battleground.
With a few choice words for him on her lips, Agnes grumbled as she bolted in the opposite direction, taking the side of the building and started to find her own path. She flipped and maneuvered around structures, jumping onto footholds that should have been impossible, and crept on as silent as a shadow. She made a beeline for the meeting through, flipping past a gargoyle, but by the time she was within reach of the roof, she sighed when she saw him land with a thud and cheer on his own skills. She rolled her eyes as she swung onto the roof, landing in a crouch and eyeballing him with both amusement and frustration.
”You’re an ass,” she said with a grumble. She rolled her shoulder. ”And I don’t want to ‘smooch’ you!” she sighed and straightened up. Already she was flipping through the rolodex in her mind in an effort to find the best counter for his style. ”You sure you want to do this?” she teased. ”My name isn’t that impressive.”
"Well I never!" Combatant arrived with such high praise. Was Nolan an ass? Yes. Yes he was. But Batty was in some serious denial.
"Oh, I mean, if you want an out, I'll give it to you. You're right, we don't have to do this. And we certainly don't have to do it on what could pass for a Smash Bros combat map." Pleeeeenty of places to fall down. The stakes were quite high.
But as for Nolan, he didn't budge. He moved his arms through a slow reversal in something loosely resembling White Crane Kung Fu. This was his preferred put you in your place style.
White Crane functioned on the principle that the arms and legs and torso were all levers and that with the right leverage, any momentum or strikes could be diverted. Nolan would use her body in his favor rather than her own. It was also almost entirely non-aggressive. Passive aggressive might be most accurate since the strikes were never meant to cripple, just incapacitate.
He didn't want to hurt her. Even if she went full out against him, Nolan was experienced enough that he was pretty sure he could avoid getting hurt himself so long as they didn't run out of roof.
Memory was fallible, but Nolan'd done this enough that he didn't have to reference any memories that weren't his own. Sure, that meant it wasn't a perfect recollection of the style, but he'd dumped many, many a trainee with this.
Even if ALL OF THAT failed, didn't that mean he got a kiss?
The smirk that flashed across her face at his reaction was quite genuine, so much so that her face was beginning to hurt now. Agnes hadn’t smiled this much in a very, very long time. Normally it was dripping with either sarcasm or tinged with annoyance but right now, the man was actually amusing her. It was a state of being that the warrior didn’t often allow herself and, when she did, it was only in short bursts of energy. Now it seemed to just roll so naturally across her that she couldn’t help but partially give into it. What was with this guy?
Straightening up and flipping through the rolodex in her mind of styles her she could adapt to counter-act his abilities, Agnes found herself unable to resist a jab at him. She inquired if this was something that he truly wanted to do and tried to give him a way out of it. She knew her skillset, she knew her ability knock any number of foes down, so what chance did he really have? Holding back, of course, was a given, but even then, she could hurt him badly. So she offered him an out, in as sarcastic a manner as possible…
>>"Oh, I mean, if you want an out, I'll give it to you. You're right, we don't have to do this. And we certainly don't have to do it on what could pass for a Smash Bros combat map."
Her brow quirked. Narrowing her eyes at him she tried to understand what he meant by Smash Bros combat map. Was that some new style she hadn’t heard about yet? Maybe a new kind of undergrown fighting ring? She would have to look into it, but for now she tried to let it slide over her. He, apparently, wasn’t budging and that was absolutely fine with her. To her credit, she did give him a chance to back out and if he didn’t take it, that was the same as signing a disclaimer.
”Don’t worry,” Agnes said reassuringly. ”I’ll make sure to rescue you…again.” A sly smile pulled at her lips as she rolled her shoulders. It was time to get this started.
He was in position, hanging low, a style that she instantly recognized as a variation of Kung Fu. Of course, she couldn’t be entirely sure if it was an actual style he was adapting or simply him goofing around without touching him. This would be information that she would only be able to discover in the midst of battle. So instead of countering the style directly, she would go for one that would make her a little less…predictable.
From her stance, Agnes suddenly slipped into a movement that was a bit more rhythmic. Her entire body moving, her legs swept out and being her, one side at a time, her arms matching the movement: Capoeira – a Brazilian martial art comprised of fighting made to look like dance. She stayed light on her feet, a rhythm playing along in her head that she moved to. It was a good style, a little flashy, but unpredictable enough to someone not versed with it.
It should be enough to make throw Gage off. So, in she went, flipping towards him, a veritable tornado of finely toned legs, striking and sweeping and lashing out in unpredictable manners, hurled outward with her full momentum behind them.
Nolan had never seen anything more beautiful in his life.
"You're breakdance fighting?" He was freaking elated. He almost took full impact at the first strike because it came out of left field to his ear when he'd been watching the core of her body doing a really neat balancing handstand bend combo. If he hadn't had his guard up, he would have been toast.
Middle guard caught the brunt of the kick and he turned to let it slide past him. His own foot shot out, low and toward her remaining support foot so that he could stomp on it. The kicking foot was long gone, but their proximity was not.
Nolan stepped in through her guard, first catching an elbow and wrenching it so that she slapped her own other arm off course, and then directing the elbow up so that it was awkward to strike.
He reached out to boop her nose with his gloved hand, but she was gone before he could get there. Blast! But also @)#*$ing hell he was having fun.
Capoeira was a serious style, filled with flashy, yet effective, moves. It allowed the combatant to distract and be unpredictable to their opponent. Agnes easily utilized this skill to move around her quarry, closing the gap between them, and becoming little more than a hurricane of strikes and sweeps that would have startled any newcomer. But this man was hardly a newcomer. Actually he was quite experienced at his own craft and his displayed that as he started to back up. But, of course, he couldn’t do so without letting his surprise at her skills find a voice…
>> "You're breakdance fighting?"
For a half-second she smirked but in the midst of a fight, Agnes was all business. She struck out, hitting his defending arm before striking for his midsection. However the man was fast as he managed to block that one a little more firmly. To make matters worse, the man moved like liquid. He weaved around her kicks and elbows, even using her own strikes against her by causing her to hit off center from where she wanted to. Impressive.
They were closer, now, which meant that a switch up was needed. This is where the bulk of Agnes ability came in handy. She wasn’t just some skilled fighter, she was a master and could switch between styles on the fly. As he dodged around her last strike, Agnes could feel her mind flipping through the rolodex and settling on something else, something that, again, would probably earn a comment from him.
As the man suddenly lunged towards here her face had been, he could find that she had dropped lower, his center of gravity but lower than it was before. Her limbs looked a little unsteady, her body swayed, almost as if she were drunk off her ass; that was the deception that was Zui Quan style, otherwise known as Drunken boxing.
Dipping hard to the side, it looked almost as if Agnes were going to fall off to the side, but she stopped, her arm lashing out with a bunch towards him, one which she followed up by turning, hard, and striking out with her knee. Afterwards, she would drunkenly roll backwards, moving unsteadily (seemingly) onto her feet but keeping her center of gravity low and wobbly.
She grinned at him. ”I can do so much more than just ‘breakdance’ fighting…”
Nolan teepeed in his stance, an absolute taboo for proper balance and stance. The sudden change in Batty's apparent steadiness had him concerned. Did she get hit in the head? He hadn't actually managed to touch her, but she'd been flailing. How embarrassing if she'd hit herself...
No. This was a style swap! He grinned, absolutely thrilled at the challenge.
He sank back into stance and had to turn immediately to skip out of reach of her initial offensive. He tried for a back kick hook on her leg, but she brought it up for a knee to his middle. She almost got him right then, but he was flexible enough to both pull his footing back and lean forward over her leg to further put his hip and valuables out of damage range. He caught the back of her knee after the kick and lifted her as he straightened up to hopefully dump her back on her butt.
She managed to roll backwards out of it and Nolan surged with pride despite the fact that Batty wasn't his student and her success meant that he hadn't won... yet. It would have been too easy if he'd managed to dump her right then.
> ”I can do so much more than just ‘breakdance’ fighting…”
Yes. Yes she could. Nolan had goosebumps.
"If you'd grabbed my shoulders or shirt and pulled me into it, that would have been a solid hit." He wasn't condescending, just helpful in tone. The Agent couldn't help commenting. This was his job. He was far too used to it.
"Though, uh, to be fair you did just hit the ground when you rolled." One eyebrow inched up, but he didn't dare ask the question. Did he just win by technicality?
It was strangely exhilarating for Agnes. She had been in fights before (clearly) and she had sparred before, but something about this particular one-on-one just felt a tad different. She wasn’t entirely sure what it was, but the woman found that she was actually having a good time. She smiled a bit more easily, though it was tinged when concentration and focus at trying to defeat the man in front of her, but still, she smiled. Oh if her teammates could see her right now, they would probably think that she was insane.
Honestly, at the moment, Agnes thought that maybe that did play a little part in all of this.
The two battled in a display that was reminiscent of pure artistry. They moved in unison, striking and blocking, only managing to land the lightest of hits before deflecting them into other movements. Agnes almost had him a few times, but the man was as limber as a serpent, slipping between her attacks, deflecting, and trying to catch her off guard. Luckily Agnes was no slouch either.
Her switch up had caught him off guard, but the grin on his lips was interesting. He was clearly impressed with her abilities but he really should keep his head in the game. After another failed hit, Agnes stumbled, rolling out of the way and taking up her position again where she dropped a line about being more than just a breakdancer. Of course he couldn’t help but point out a possible mistake.
>> "If you'd grabbed my shoulders or shirt and pulled me into it, that would have been a solid hit."
She rolled her eyes, straightening her stance a little. Here was another switch in her posture. Instead of being loose and willow, her stance firmed up as she hardened her center. Switching postures to something that was a little more defensive, Agnes smirked as her body took on a resemblance of a deeply rooted tree – Aikido.
However, as she prepared for his next move, she had to pause when he stopped, quirked his eyebrow, and gave her that winning smile. Momentarily taken out of the thrill of battle, Agnes tilted her head as she eyed him and his expression that as reminiscent of a cat swallowing a canary.
>> "Though, uh, to be fair you did just hit the ground when you rolled."
She narrowed her eyes and cocked her head sassily at him. ”Seriously?’ She asked. ”You do know that I meant you have to actually knock me down yourself, not just me rolling away?” She scoffed at him, unable to hide a small smirk that wanted so badly to pull her lips. ”Or are you just so intimidated you’re looking for a way out?”
Nolan held up his hands in mock defeat. "Oh, I know. It doesn't seem fair to me either, but I didn't make the rules, ya know..." He ribbed her from afar. Her stance had changed and the moment of banter was nice, but she seemed on the defensive.
Ah. So it was his turn to be the aggressor. He took a sliding step at her scoff and dove forward while she spoke her insult.
A way out? Naw. He was more interested in a swivel dip kick. He couldn't remember what it was actually called, but he'd accidentally knocked a recruit out the last time he'd used it on one. He'd been a bit mouthy, always putting his foot in his mouth. So Nolan had put his foot in there too.
He dipped toward the ground as if he would start a front handspring, but instead pivoted , swinging one leg up and around behind him so that with a pivot quite suddenly he was aiming a forceful kick at head-height. Not really a useful move unless your enemy likes to stand around and gab.
>>"Oh, I know. It doesn't seem fair to me either, but I didn't make the rules, ya know..."
Agnes tilted her head down at him. Clearly she wasn’t amused (okay, maybe she was a little) by the man’s verbal antics. But there was something about his certainty that was intriguing to the young woman. She was never so bold and verbal with her prey when she fought them; hell, even when she was training she could be pretty much labeled a b*tch. However the young woman was good at what she did and knew that she wouldn’t let the man’s cocky attitude bring her down.
Her stance firmer, Agnes solidified her footing and watched as the other suddenly came rushing forward, slipping into a rather fanciful handstand and flaring out with a high and fast kick. Had Agnes not seen the move the coming, she would have certainly been in for quite the headache. A kick like that could possibly knock someone’s head clean off. But Agnes wasn’t just any someone.
Aikido was all about strengthening and rooting yourself into the ground like a tree. It was about defense and deflection. When Gage flipped forward, his leg coming fast for her, Agnes’ tightened arm flashed up in a ninety-degree angle. Her arm flaring up, she held it just past her head and ground her teeth. When his kick connected, to shook her arm down to the marrow but she absorbed every bit of it. A slight wince in her eyes, as she didn’t expect the kick to come that fast, Agnes pushed his leg away, feeling her arm go momentarily numb, but that wasn’t her primary.
As she knocked the man’s leg away, Agnes’ other arm, which had been coiling and tightening ever since she took the stance, suddenly flew out, like a piston, aimed directly for whatever part of the man’s torso her knuckles could collide with. All the way, her legs remained firmly rooted, using her entire core to follow through and deliver her punch. If it hit, it would hurt like hell, if not, she would be open for quite the reprisal. Either way, she would take it like a champ.
The kick was a calculated risk. It put him in a less steady, and more vulnerable position to be sure; he only had one leg between him and the ground. The beauty of it was the added momentum that his entire body lent to the force of the strike and the full musculature of his leg to add that little extra something. All of that paired with an unexpected trajectory and speed for a worthwhile gambit.
A gambit that she blocked, and absorbed the force of.
Nolan had time to widen his eyes at Batty from his head's low point in the dip. Her arm shot out, but so did his. His unexpected follow up met with hers. Her grounded position gave her far more leverage, but his aim had been to use a quick jab to dislodge her stance by hitting her hip. Instead, he ended up diverting her strike mostly by getting himself hit in the arm.
And his leg that was pushed away still had to go somewhere.
Nolan turned his wrist and grabbed her arm. It was probably his twisting momentum that did it, the weird way that he was both pulling and falling, but they somehow both end up in a tangle of arms and legs. Both on the ground.
He was more surprised than anything else. A bubble of shocked laughter escaped.
"I-is that a draw?" Who was more on bottom? Him? Dammit!